A Court Ruling that means Something for Wine Drinkers in Massachusetts: Today's Decision

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A Court Ruling that means Something for Wine Drinkers in Massachusetts: Today's Decision

Posted 11/19/2008 at 06:45 AM by Cathy

The Problem:
Residents of Massachusetts were prohibited from purchasing and receiving shipments of wine from out-of-state wineries, if the winery was represented by an in-state wholesaler.

The Magic Number:
30,000. Any out-of-state winery producing 30,000 gallons of wine or more, who were also represented by a MA wholesaler, could not ship to consumers in Massachusetts. 95% of all out-of-state wineries produce more than 30,000 gallons of wine. The remaining 5%, who produce less than 30,000 gallons, could ship directly to consumers so long as they had a direct-shipping permit issued by the state.

The Court Case:
Massachusetts House Bill 4498, which imposed the direct-shipping restrictions, passed both the House and Senate in 2005, and became law in 2006. On September 2006, Family Winemakers of California v. Jenkins was filed in opposition to that law.

The Judge:
Judge Rya Zobel ruled on Family Winemakers of California v. Jenkins today, November 19, 2008, declaring the law to be unconstitutional and discriminatory to wineries based on production size.

What That Means for Wine Drinkers in Massachusetts:
Depending on further clarification of the rules regarding common carriers to deliver wine in the state, consumers in Massachusetts can legally purchase wines from any winery in the country.

But first:
Wineries of any size, whether they're represented by a wholesaler or not, can now apply for a direct-shipping permit from Massachusetts once the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission complies with the court ruling.

The Impact:
Massachusetts is the seventh-largest wine-consumption state in the country. And now all of us adults can purchase wine from anywhere (online, say, or in person at a winery we visit) and have it shipped to our homes. What's the impact of that? You do the math.

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About the Author

Cathy Huyghe

Cathy Huyghe writes about drinking wine every day in the Boston area. She finds the quirky characters, the after-hours events, and the surprising stories that make up Boston's vibrant local wine scene. But no matter where she is, what she's doing, or who she's with, she mostly just wants to drink the stuff.

Her first restaurant gig was at Chez Panisse, when she knocked on the kitchen's back door and asked if she could work there. She's also worked for Jean-Pierre Vigato in Paris and Thomas Keller in Las Vegas. She went to graduate school at Harvard (twice), and her writing has run in Boston magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Edible Boston, and on Nevada Public Radio and Grist.org.