State legislators took a big step this week toward allowing out-of-state wineries to ship directly to Massachusetts consumers' doorsteps, but current regulations still make that prospect financially unattractive for UPS and FedEx.
The House and Senate's proposed $36.5 billion state budget includes a provision for wineries to obtain licenses to ship up to 12 cases of wine per year to a Bay State consumer age 21 and over. The legislation, which would take effect Jan. 1, awaits Gov. Deval Patrick's signature.
"It has the bones of an excellent piece of legislation," said Carol Martel, northeastern counsel for the Wine Institute, a San Francisco trade group representing California wineries. "Everyone that was working on the legislation felt that what was enacted was a good first step."
Legislation enacted in 2006 allowed direct wine shipments to Bay Staters only by wineries that produced less than 30,000 gallons per year and hadn't used a wholesaler for distribution in the past six months. It effectively prevented shipments of 98 percent of the wine produced out of state.
In 2008, a U.S. District Court judge ruled the legislation had a "discriminatory effect" on interstate commerce and was unconstitutional. The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in 2010.
The current proposed legislation doesn't address what's seen as excessive state fees for FedEx and UPS to deliver wine that are levied per truck rather than for a fleet. "My guess is that's something that we'll come back at," Martel said. "We would have garnered some degree of opposition that we would rather not have at this point. Wholesalers balked at any talk of a fleet license."
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