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Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[SMALL TOWN LAWYER] Blind Squirrel, Meet Nut: The fight over who can and can't order wine by mail or over the Internet has now switched to state legislatures around the country. New York, Michigan, and twenty-two other states barred consumers from directly ordering wine from out of state. Pataki on Tuesday introduced a bill to allow the direct shipment of wine in and out of state. That would give New York consumers more options and create new business for New York wines, he said.

[AntitrustProf Blog] State restrictions on out of state wine sales violate dormant commerce clause: The majority opinion was authored by Justice Kennedy and held that the state laws discriminated against out of state businesses without a legitimate local purpose.  The states had justified the restrictions under the state's powers to regulate the market for alcohol and the ability of out of state sales to evade state taxes. 

[Drvino.blogspot.com] Dr. Vino's wine blog: Evan as wine shipments appear to be opening, the NY retail scene remains uncompetitive because of blue laws. Whole Foods Market, the high-end, organic grocery chain, has just closed its wine shop in its Time Warner location, reports Florence Fabricant in yesterday's NYTimes. Although constructed with a separate section and a separate entrance, the shop violated laws that prohibit the sale of wine in grocery stores. A grocery store can operate a wine shop in an adjacent property but it must have a separate entrance at grade.

[Drvino.blogspot.com] Dr. Vino's wine blog: May 2005: The 24 states that maintain some sort of limits on shipments will have to level the playing field between in-state and out-of-state wineries. Currently in New York, for example, wines from Long Island and the Finger Lakes can be shipped to residents in Manhattan. This ruling means that Governor Pataki and the legislature must decide whether to eliminate direct sales altogether or to allow California, Oregon and Washington state wineries the same privilege.

[Info.detnews.com] Sandra Silfven on Wine -- Michigan wineries hope for fair hearing ...: Heather Price, winemaker and a member of the family that started up Sandhill Crane Winery in the Jackson area, said this week: "We have had a number of customer requests to send wine out-of-state, and would love to be able to honor them. Also, because of our name, we've had requests from around the country to purchase our wines -- from places like the Sandhill Crane Golf Course in Florida that wanted to serve our wines at a fund-raising dinner last year. We certainly hope that the Michigan legislators don't choose to ban all wine shipping."

[Justinshearer.com] justin | shearer: The New York law was challenged by three local consumers, along with the owners of two family-run wineries, the Swedenburg Winery in Middleburg, Virginia, and Lucas Winery in Lodi, California. Suing over the Michigan law were the Domaine Alfred Inc. winery in San Luis Obispo, California, and 13 Michigan residents who consume or write about wine.

[Silverspringswinery.com] Silver Springs Winery T/A Don Giovanni Wines tm: One can see a paradigm shift right before ones eyes as wine takes over as the healthy alcohol beverage of choice. The wine revolution has arrived and the Supreme Court will in my opinion side with the small wineries on the issue of out of state shipping. No doubt the movie Sideways has been a huge help and the consumer is voting with purchases. Red Red wine it's always been good to me and now it's good 4 U.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Wine, Gourmets Of Wine