NJ WINE DELIVERIES

[lamb]

NJO reported today the following story

We Want Wine!

They note that New Jersey routinely ranks among the top five in consumption and production, and state residents buy about 10 million bottles of wine each year.

I can say with certainty that I am a state resident that gladly is part of that data!

[tommy]

i look forward to this. i wonder how much they'll lose in tax revenue? i buy a lot of wine, but i can't imagine that i'd buy less in-state and have the balance delivered from out-of-state. the impact, for me, would be the ability to have wine shipped from CA, Long Island, or other wine-producing areas when on vacation and whatnot. if anything, that'll just mean i'll be buying more wine all-in-all.

edited for speeling.

Edited July 10, 2003 by tommy (log)

[lamb]

the impact, for me, would be the ability to have wine shipped from CA, Long Island, or other wine-producering areas when on vacation and whatnot.  if anything, that'll just mean i'll be buying more wine all-in-all.

I agree!

[Double 0]

I doubt the state will lose much tax revenue (they always find a way to collect ). This is about distributers having a stanglehold on which wines and how much they cost. I've bought wines directly from wineries, through auction and on the internet. For me its about getting wines that are not available locally. When you add in the shipping its rarely cheaper to buy out of state.

[Rail Paul]

Expect to see a huge amount of advertising on both sides of this issue before it gets resolved.

The Federal Appeals court in NY has already thrown out NY's ban on out of state importing, even Spitzer knows he's unikely to get an overturn from the Supremes. The Federal Appeals Court in Richmond declined to enforce North Carolina's ban, and the Third Circuit (covers NJ) is a rock solid bet to overturn NJ's ban if it gets the case.

NJ's law is similar to NY's law as it gives preferences to domestic producers (delivery by UPS) that it denies similar foreign (California) producers, and establishes much higher qualifications for foreign producers to sell wine in NJ. These are the same grounds that got NY's ban whacked.

The state has the right to establish and enforce alcoholic beverage policy. It does not have the right to discriminate against a producer if that impedes interstate commerce.

[=Mark]

Well it was announced last month that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Overturns Texas Wine Shipping Ban. It appears that the various state regulations on the shipping of wine are on tenuous ground.

Edited July 10, 2003 by =Mark (log)

[Varmint]

The Federal Appeals Court in Richmond declined to enforce North Carolina's

Actually, the 4th Circuit held that North Carolina's disparate treatment between in-state and out-of-state wineries was unconstitutional. Thus, the direct shipment prohibition remained, but we can't now buy wines direct from the NC wineries.

The NC legislature has a couple of bills pending that would allow some form of direct shipment. I haven't studied the issue extensively, but I believe that much of the pressure to do this has come from the growing NC winery industry, as they have been hit hard as a result of the Court of Appeals case.