In another anti-shipping development, the Tennessee legislature is considering a bill that would prevent wineries from using fulfillment houses to ship wine to its residents. Direct shipping by out-of-state wineries was specifically allowed by the US Supreme Court in the 2005 Granholm v Heald case. The proposed Tennessee law is a novel approach to restricting it, and if successful could be pursued in legislatures across the country.
All in all, this could be the worst week for wine shipping in the 16 years since the landmark Granholm decision. And it comes at a particularly bad time, as consumers nationwide during the pandemic are ordering more things online.
(AP Photo/Mal Fairclough, File)
ST. LOUIS (CN) The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a Florida wine distributor’s challenge to Missouri’s liquor license residency laws, affirming a federal judge’s dismissal based on Supreme Court precedent.
Florida-based Sarasota Wine Market and two Missouri consumers, who state law has blocked from becoming Sarasota customers, filed the lawsuit challenging the state’s requirement that those seeking a liquor license must be a qualified voter and a taxpaying citizen of the state. They claim Missouri’s ban violates the Constitution’s commerce clause by protecting in-state businesses over out-of-state ones.
The state countered in a September hearing before the St. Louis-based appeals court that the lawsuit was simply an attack on the three-tier system governing alcohol sales set up by the 21st Amendment. The three-tier system of regulating alcohol producers, distributors and retailers was put into place following Prohibition as a sort