NJ votes today on Wine Shipment

NJ legislation votes today (Mar 11) on S-766 that would allow NJ wineries to ship directly to consumers and for consumers to have wine shipped directly to them. Not sure how many people are having NJ wines shipped to them (statistics quoted in write-up say NJ is the 6th largest wine producing state), but I am damn sure that I want to be able to have non-NJ wines shipped to me with much less hassle and cost.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Reciprocity would only help online retailers in this state.

Vote is at 2:00pm as I understand it…you should be able to hear the cheering or screaming shortly thereafter, but will post what happens.

Passed by the NJ Senate today; Yea - 29, Nay - 5.

AWESOME!!!

Great news!

Happy days are here again! [welldone.gif]

OK - so the senate passed it. Now what happens???

The gov needs to sign it into law?

sweet victory! now i can subtract the dollars i had to spend to travel into nyc to pick up my wine. sweet!!!

New Jersey Senate Passes Direct Shipping Bill


Your letters, emails, phone calls and support made the difference today!!

This afternoon, the State Senate passed the direct shipping of wine bill, S766 sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3), by a vote of 29 to 5.

Because of your support, we are one step closer to providing New Jersey residents with consumer choice in wine!

The Assembly counterpart bill, A1702, will now be heard by the Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee.

Please continue to encourage your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues to support UnCorkNJ by contacting your legislators.

A copy of the Senate press release appears below:

SWEENEY / STACK BILL TO ALLOW DIRECT WINE
SHIPMENTS TO NJ CONSUMERS PASSES SENATE

TRENTON – Legislation Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney and Senator Brian Stack sponsored to allow New Jersey consumers to receive direct shipments from wineries today passed the Senate.

The Senators said lifting the direct-shipping ban would not only be beneficial to consumers, but would also be a boon to the state’s emerging wine industry, as many small wineries only have their products available for sale in a limited number of stores or on-site.

“Allowing direct shipments of wine to and from New Jersey will not only enhance consumer choice, but would provide essential inroads for our budding wine industry,” said Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem. “With our wineries producing better and better wines and winning prestigious awards, we should be expanding, not limiting, access to New Jersey wines.”

If enacted, New Jersey would join thirty-five other states that currently have direct-shipping laws on the books.

The bill, S766, would authorize the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission to issue direct-shipping licenses to holders of either a New Jersey plenary winery license with retail privileges or a New Jersey farm winery license. Out-of-state shippers also would be allowed to receive a shipping license, with the stipulation that they provide the Division of Taxation payment for any excise and sales taxes due and an annual report noting quantity and type of alcoholic beverages shipped to New Jersey consumers.

“New Jersey consumers should not have to be limited only to what’s in stock at their local wine store, nor should they have to drive half-way across the state to get a quality New Jersey wine,” said Stack, D-Hudson. “Likewise, out-of-state visitors who try New Jersey wines and want to purchase them shouldn’t be shut out. It’s time we give consumers and vintners the ability to deal directly with each other.”

New Jersey is the sixth-largest wine producing state in the country. New Jersey wines also have won an increasing number of national and international awards.

The measure, which passed 29-5, now heads to the Assembly for further consideration.

Direct ship is only from wineries, not retailers, right? We have direct ship in Massachusetts; does us no good with out-of-state retailers.

From - UncorkNJ

Senate Committee Passes S-766, Direct Shipping Bill!
Congratulations! You did it! We are very pleased to report the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee yesterday afternoon reported the direct shipping bill out of committee by a unanimous 5-0 vote.

Senate President Sweeney, one of the bill’s sponsors, commented on the importance of this issue, “Allowing direct shipments of wine to and from New Jersey will not only enhance consumer choice, but would provide essential inroads for our budding wine industry. With our wineries producing better and better wines and winning prestigious awards, we should be expanding, not limiting, access to New Jersey wines.”

We would like to sincerely thank the following individuals and organizations who testified at the committee hearing in favor of S766:

Steven E. Some, on behalf of UnCorkNJ

Jon Holt, on behalf of the Wine Institute

Charlie Tomasello, co-owner of Tomasello Winery in Hammonton, NJ, and on behalf of the Garden State Wine Growers Association

Rory Philipson, owner of The Blue Bottle Cafe in Hopewell, NJ

Bruce Smith, wine enthusiast

We would also like to thank the following individuals and organizations who were not able to testify but wrote-in their support for the direct shipping bill:

Joe Broski, national secretary of the American Wine Society

Phyllis Deroian, wine enthusiast

Barbara and Murry Kirch, wine enthusiasts

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF UNCORKNJ, WE ARE ONE STEP CLOSER TO GETTING THE BILL PASSED!!! [dance-clap.gif]

Great news!

Wineries can’t ship into MA either, right? [scratch.gif]

What’s the policy now? I see many wineries willing to ship to NJ.

Is there a scheduled vote in the assembly yet? if so, when? If not, any idea when we can roughly expect to see one?

That’s a great question Ken, and I wish I knew the answer, but what it comes down to, is there are some that do, and some that don’t. Simple as that, but I don’t know the reasoning behind it. I have a few thatwn’t ship to NJ, ie Sea Smoke, Kosta Browne, Emeritus, Fiddlehead, Scarecrow, and some others. Yet there are plenty that will. Any of you in the biz know the details? -mJ

I have found that the majority of the wineries will not ship directly to NJ. There are some that will ship to NJ, but as I understand it, that is because they have an arrangement with a third party shipper that in turn is able to ship to NJ. Probably not the most legally correct description, but having it where all wineries can ship directly here would really open things up. Paying for double shipping really adds to the price of bottles.

Not right. Wineries can ship into MA if they get a permit. Shipping by MA wineries has been permitted for a long time. After Granholm they passed a law that tried to make it difficult for non-MA shipments by restricting shipping rights to “small” wineries (producing less than 30K gallons/year) or large wineries that did not use an in-state wholesaler. However the courts have enjoined enforcement of the limit on large wineries on the ground that it is an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce.

– Matt