Pinot Law

An interesting article here regarding a Federal Court’s decision to overturn the Commonwealth of Virginia’s decades-old ban on alcohol-related advertising in college newspapers. The Court concluded that the law violates the student publications’ right to free speech.

Virginia and Virginia Tech students had filed the suit, and the judge found no evidence that the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control rules actually curbed the behavior they were meant to address (i.e. underage drinking). I found this article particularly interesting as a Virginia winery, since our neighbor to the West — West Virginia — apparently has a rule on the books that no adult resident or duly licensed retailer or distributor may advertise the availability of wines by shipment to residents of West Virginia.

In other words, in Virginia it is OK to advertise to a market largely consisting of underage drinkers (i.e. college students), but in West Virginia it is illegal to advertise wine to anyone residing in the state. Makes a lot of sense . . .

Because the U.S. Supreme Court just issued a decision regarding chewing tobacco that could have implications for direct wine shipments. The Supreme Court opinion in in Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport struck down a Maine law that required common carriers — for example FedEx — to obtain signatures of those having tobacco products shipped to them. The Supreme Court in this case concluded that federal law governing common carriers preempted the Maine regulation that required signatures.

So what does this have to do with direct shipments of wine? Well, as a press release from the Specialty Wine Retailers Association points out, the distributors will likely use this case as their latest bogeyman to scare lawmakers and regulators. But if any of your distributor friends try to make this argument, you just tell them the following: 1) retail winery’s are committed to ensuring the safe delivery of their product to legal age consumers (which is why we pay common carriers to confirm age upon delivery); 2) the Rowe case — while interesting — does not impact wineries in any way, shape or form; and 3) internet delivery of wine is not how most teenagers get their liquor — most get it from their parents.

Collection Device for Chewing Tobacco used under a Creative Commons License provided by midnightcom.