I came across Free the Grapes! while listening to old
episodes of a Supreme Court podcast called First Mondays (because what else
would I do with my free time). The
podcast discussed the Granholm decision
and the three-tier system, and a little organization called Free the Grapes! kept
coming up.
If you have also been frustrated by the obvious inefficiencies
created by the three-tier system (and the utter boondoggle that is being a wine
distributor, that you will join me in cheering for Free the Grapes!. Five wine associations including the Wine
Institute founded the association in 1996.
It is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit trade group funded by retailers, wineries
and consumers. The group’s mission statement
is summed up on their website:
“We believe that
wholesaler middlemen can and should compete based on delivering service and
value, not by creating felony laws and making threats of jail time.”
Hallelujah. In
addition to contributing to the Granholm decision,
the group has been instrumental in changing state laws restricting
direct-to-consumer shipping. For
example, in 2016, Arizona passed SB1381, which allows wine consumers in the
state to have wine shipped to them directly from any licensed domestic winery,
regardless of size and without requiring a visit to the winery.
And earlier this month, Free the Grapes announced that
Alabama is taking steps to address its “archaic” practice of refusing to allow any
winery to ship directly to consumers in the state. Senate Bill 243 would relax
this restriction and allow Alabamians to receive limited shipments of wine to
their homes.
The organization has contributed to great strides in the
freeing of legal strictures on the wine industry. As Jeremy Benson, the group’s director said, “thirty
years ago, only four states allowed for legal, regulated winery-to-consumer
wine shipments. Now, 40 states, together representing about 90% of the total
U.S. wine consumption, allow such shipments from out of state wineries.” We can only hope that this tiny trade group
keeps fighting the good fight.
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