Curious About Getting Wine Shipped To Massachusetts
BOSTON (CBS) - It was a decision that thrilled wine lovers!
The courts ruled that it was unconstitutional to stop wineries from shipping to homes in Massachusetts.
That was more than a year ago and not much has changed.
Bruce in Swampscott Declared his Curiosity:
Why can't we get anyone to ship wine to us yet?
Bob Dwyer, a wine enthusiast, thinks that should change. Dwyer has a wine website. He blogs on Wellesleywinepress.Com.
WBZ-TV's David Wade reports.
Dwyer says, "It's frustrating right. The courts say shipments should happen. Everyone says it should happen. We just need to define how it happens. Get behind our state reps to support this bill."
Read: Recession-Proof Wine
The bill filed last year and then again recently on Beacon Hill would clean up two existing issues with our laws:
Number 1- State law says companies like Fed Ex and UPS have to have a special permit for every truck that carries wine. That's not one permit per company. That's one permit per truck.
Number 2- There's a cap on how much wine you can order as a consumer and that law says if a vineyard puts you over your limit they get in trouble. Not you.
Websites like Wine.com use in-state distributors to ship wine to your house.
But passing a new law could open up deliveries from wineries all over.
So, existing laws say you can't get more than "x" cases a year. But the law says if a vineyard puts you over, they get in trouble.
Dwyer said this could and should be the year.
"Right now, 35 states allow shipments. Massachusetts is one of the most lucrative states that wineries would want to ship to because of the size of the market here."
