The Supreme Court Finally Rules... In Our Favor!
This morning before I left for work, I sat down at my computer to check email as I always do. I also launched Internet Explorer to see what was happening in the world. To my surprise and delight - the top story on the WSJ website was about the Supreme Court’s ruling about direct shipping. I think my heart may have stopped beating as I quickly read the title and clicked on the link to read more. I picked up the phone and called my mom and brother to share the good news. I knew right then it was definitely going to be a great day, a great week and a great month!
At Sokol Blosser, we are absolutely thrilled about the Supreme Court ruling announced today (I even went so far as to tell a reporter from the Capital Press that it was “awesome!�). However, we will continue to abide by the current regulations until states enact laws that allow us to legally ship to consumers in those states and common carriers agree to transport the wine into those states. Shipping wine to consumers in “non-reciprocal� states is quite difficult to impossible, and even though the Supreme Court’s ruling has the potential to open up a lot more states to us, nothing has changed just yet.
For those of you who are a little confused as to why we can’t start shipping to you immediately, here are a few things to keep in mind:
* The supreme court ruled that allowing in-state wineries to ship wine to consumers while prohibiting out-of-state wineries to ship wine to consumers is unconstitutional. Therefore, states have two options: 1) allow in-state and out-of-state wineries to ship wine to consumers or 2) do not allow in- or out-of-state wineries to ship wine to consumers. Each state must decide and put into law one of those two options (we certainly hope they will go for #1!!).
* If a state chooses to allow both in- and out-of-state wineries to ship wine to consumers, they will most likely require some kind of permit and sales tax remittance (like what states such as SC, NH, WY, NE, etc require). You can probably imagine how long it will take for a state to figure out the fees and licensing process. For instance, TX just announced that it will require out-of-state wineries to get a permit and submit taxes on shipped wine, but they will take 90 days just to announce how to go about applying for the permit! Lucky for us, we are still allowed to ship wine to consumers in TX while the TX liquor board figures out the permitting process.
* Even if a state like NY opened up tomorrow to out-of-state wineries, the common carriers like UPS, FedEx and DHL don't allow wine shipments there yet! I am sure that all of the common carriers are working to get the appropriate permits to begin shipping there once the states officially open up.
We have been working on this issue for so many years now, and today’s news is incredibly inspiring. However, realistically, it could take a bit of time for states to enact new laws and common carriers to begin shipping there. We will continue to be patient and hope that you will be as well. The moment we are able to ship wine into new states we will make sure everyone knows about it.
In the meantime, please join Free the Grapes! and us tonight as we have a national toast to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of direct shipping.
P.S. If you haven’t heard about Free the Grapes! – you should check out their website. They have a terrific automated system to send a letter to your state legislators.