Direct Shipping

NAWR’s POSITION
Wine consumers regularly look to direct wine shipping in order to access wines not available in their local marketplace and look to retailers nationwide to locate and buy those wines. Yet only 14 states allow out-of-state retailers to legal ship wine to their consumers. This arbitrary restriction on wine retailers severely limits consumer access to wines, suppresses economic activity, limits the ability of retailers to respond to New Economy marketplaces and deprives citizens of significant tax revenue that would be raised by allowing direct shipping from out-of-state retailers.

NAWR seeks to change these arbitrary, archaic and protectionist laws through lobbying, media and lawmaker education and litigation where states blatantly violate the Commerce Clause in their bans on out-of-state retailer shipping.

MODEL WINE RETAILER SHIPPING BILL
NAWR’s Model Wine Retailer Shipping Bill is similar in nature to the majority of winery shipping laws that exist in most states for the simple purpose that the shipment of wine from retailers differs in no way from winery shipments and ought to be treated similarly under the law.

Click To Download the Model Wine Retailer Shipping Bill

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WHERE CAN WINE RETAILERS SHIP WINE?
As laws change, NAWR will update this map.

 

STATES THAT DISCRIMINATE

There are a number of states that interfere with interstate commerce by discriminating against out-of-state retailers. These states allow their in-state retailers to ship wine directly to consumers in that state while prohibiting out-of-state retailers from doing the same. These are the legal conditions that were ruled unconstitutional in the 2005 Granholm v Heald Supreme Court ruling. Subsequently, in 2019, the Supreme Court’s Tennessee Wine v Thomas ruling reiterated that the non-discrimination principles outlined in the Granholm decision apply equally to retailers as well as wineries.