Free the Grapes!

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.