Proposal: Force Wholesalers To Buy Every Single Bottle of Wine in Monopoly States Across the country from Washington State to Arizona to Kentucky to Indiana and elsewhere we are going to see truly consequential political battles in 2006 over who can sell wine to whom. At issue is the fact that many states allow their wineries to sell directly to retailers while out of state wineries are not allowed to. After the Supreme Court decision in May that slapped down…

Wine & Beer distribution in Washington State is in disarray today after a Federal judge ruled that the State’s law allowing in-state wineries to sell direct to retailers while disallowing out-of-state wineries from selling direct to those same retailers is unconstitutional. The Judge ruled this form of discrimination against out of state wineries violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. If this sounds familiar, it should. A very similar ruling was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in…

The Detroit News reports that plaintiffs in the Direct Shipping lawsuit in Michigan are asking for $1.3 Million in legal fees. Such recovery of legal fees is allowable when lawsuits are filed under U.S.C. 1983. The plaintiffs, who won their case when it was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, are asking for legal fees to be paid not only by the State of Michigan but also want the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers who intervened in the…

The battle over direct shipping in Michigan appears to over after Michigan State Legislators voted 104-0 for a law that would allow both Michigan and out of state wineries to ship 1500 cases a year to Michigan consumers. CONSUMERS, OUT OF STATE WINERIES AND WHOLESALERS WINThe big winners are the out of state wineries, Michigan consumers and the wholesalers. Out of state wineries, particularly California wineries, can now ship legally into Michigan. Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling in May…

The state of Washington, the largest producer of wine in the States after California and a traditional advocate of direct shipping of wine to consumers, is changing it’s laws on wine shipping. The draft legislation formulated by the Washington Liquor Control Commission essentially updates the State’s law to take into account the Supreme Court Ruling on the issue in may as well as the changes that other states have made to their shipping laws. Washington had been a "reciprocal state."…