New Yorkers To Get Wine Shipped Direct!
It looks official. The State of New York, after being told by the Supreme Court that their direct shipping laws were discriminatory and unconstitutional, will send a bill to the governor’s desk that opens the State to direct shipping of wine to consumers.
Of course this is great news both for consumers and wineries. But it’s also important for another reason.
New York’s partner in the Supreme Court case was Michigan, where legislators will grapple with two bills, one shutting down all direct shipping of wine and another opening up Michigan to direct shipping. The New York solution will be influential up in Lansing as legislators look to see how New York chose to handle the Supreme Court ruling.
One way or the other, it’s important for this issue to be resolved. No matter what the jurisdiction, the players have to know what the rules are and that the field is level.
Obviously the wholesalers have had things tilted their way for a long time.
My friend works for a Finger Lakes winery in New York that is on the horns of this dilemma. He suggests that if NY had banned all direct shipping then his winery would have boosted production at the expense of quality.
In other words, they would have stressed volume to satisfy the wholesalers’ “shotgun” distribution scheme. With direct shipping legal, he believes the winery will strive to become more individual, developing niche markets and working with an established client base to emphasize style and quality. There would still be growth but it would be under the winery’s direct control and not to satisfy a wholesaler’s targets, forecasts or quotas.