A bill introduced by the New Jersey State Assembly, A1702, seeks to permit direct shipment from wineries to New Jersey consumers and would supplement Title 33 of the Revised Statutes. (An identical bill, titled S766, has already been passed by the New Jersey Senate.) A1702 would permit a “plenary winery…
Tag: direct shipment
Illinois Wine-Tasting Ordinance Creates Uncertainty When Executed
An interesting tidbit emerges today in the world of wine, law, and news: a brochure posted for an Illinois wine-tasting festival seemed to be ambiguous and could be interpreted to allow an indefinite amount of wine consumption by tasters. Last month, the city of Geneva hosted a wine-tasting festival called…
New Iowa Law is Problematic for Wine Businesses
Iowa’s new direct shipment law, which was designed to help the State gross revenue with respect to wine imports, has served as a hindrance to many local Iowa wine businesses. The law, which was approved and instated in July of 2010, changed the State from a reciprocal shipment state to…
Extending The Granholm Interpretation: The Nexus of Illinois Wine Shipment And HB 0429
On July 1, 2007, a bill called HB 0429 became law in the state of Illinois and amended the Liquor Control Act of 1934. (See Illinois Liquor Control Act of 1934.) Prior to the enforcement of HB 0429, Illinois constituents could have wine shipped to them from wineries or retailers that…
New Postal Reform Bill Could Affect Shipping Wine
On September 23, 2010, Senator Thomas Carper introduced a new bill to the Senate. The new bill, titled the The Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act of 2010, serves to reduce the number of home delivery days, close extraneous post offices, and open retail outlets or automated kiosks in…
The New Text of H.R. 5034 (CARE Act)
H.R. 5034, the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (“CARE”) Act, has recently undergone a change in its text. The new text of the bill reads as follows: “State or territorial regulations may not intentionally or facially discriminate against out-of-state or out-of-territory producers of alcoholic beverages in favor of in-state or in-territory…
The Alcohol Beverage Legal Environment Post-Granholm
This article gives rise by suggestion of Tom Wark of Fermentation. It explores the legal environment, post-Granholm, relative to the constitutionality of the several state liquor regulatory laws and the underlying effect of the Supreme Court’s holding in Granholm. These three cases include Siesta Village Market LLC v. Steen, 595…
Granholm v. Heald and the Wine Industry
General Information on Granholm In the 2005 opinion of Granholm v. Heald, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5–4 decision that state laws allowing in-state wineries to make direct sales to customers but effectively authorizing out-of-state wineries to make sales only through wholesalers at a greater expense are unconstitutional. The…
Is There a Future for the Three-Tier Alcohol Beverage Distribution System?
The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 by the 21st Amendment of the United States Constitution not only reinstated the legality of alcohol beverage consumption, but also introduced a new system for alcohol beverage distribution: the three-tier system. The three-tier system creates a platform between alcohol beverage producers, distributors, and retailers….