This has always been an issue, since the 21st amendment was passed. Commerce Clause be damned!
It came to a head a couple of years ago, when Stephen Diamond, a Chicago lawyer, brought a number of lawsuits against out of state retailers, using an Illinois “whistleblower” law, for shipping into Illinois without paying use and sales taxes, not having the proper permits, and thus bypassing the Illinois three-tier distribution system.
Long story short, the major retailers, like K&L Wines and Rare Wine Co., stopped shipping into Illinois, and other states with similar laws, two years ago. Shortly thereafter, UPS and FEDEX started refusing the make the shipments. Can’t even get wines at auction and have them shipped into the state! Out of state domestic wineries have been given carveouts in the laws, but not retailers or wholesalers.
The alcohol wholesalers have a stranglehold on the system and don’t want their rigged system shaken up. Pretty sad state of affairs.
Blake that is strange . Both the previous post and the link work for me. Try searching Victor Hongs posts. He started thread on Oct 24th hopefully that works
Yea I know, first world problems, but these laws are precisely why my “cellar” does not look like it should. I cannot recall the year, but it wasn’t until about 2005 that we could ship wine into the state from retailer to private party. While I have always adored Northern Rhones, Chinons and some other geeky French wines, these wines are near-impossible to find in Orlando, and frankly, in much of Florida. I have not seen Clape here since the 1995 vintage. I have never seen Rougeard, Baudry, Allemand, Benetiere, Juge, Plouzeau, Gonon (just recently, at a significant price premium), Vatan, Levet, Roilette, etc. I bet these and a few other wines are 1/2 of my current cellar, but all relatively young, think 2006 forward. About 75% or more of my purchases come from out of state, half of that from NYC. Anything Parker rates highly in the Bordeaux and Cali Cab range, are easy to find in Florida, by comparision.
If that materializes for me, i’ll be setting up out of state receiving/storage and make runs twice a year. Stupid and completely unnecessary, but you have to protect the children. Oops, I meant wholesalers that contribute lots of money to both parties in my state.
True. It’s interesting that apparently 45 states allow shipments by wineries directly, but only 14 allow shipments by retailers from out of state.
FWIW, it’s not entirely exempted from the Commerce Clause, see Granholm v. Heald
One interesting thing from this Fedex list - 15 states allow in-state retailers to ship, but not out-of-state. That seems like it could be challenged under the same logic as Heald challenged direct shipment.
Yes, that ruling address instate vs. out of state wineries. But question is whether the reasoning of it would also ban different treatment of in-state and out-of-state retailers regarding sales via shipment. I think there’s a good argument to be made that it does, and I doubt the states could justify the restriction (indeed, the Supreme Court specifically found no legitimate rationale for allowing in-state wineries to ship direct, but not out of state ones, including that the purported worry about kids ordering wasn’t served if in-state wineries could ship direct).
If Granholm were found applicable to retail sales as well as winery sales, I predict wholesalers would next pressure state legislatures to prohibit in-state shipments.
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