When the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that a state may not allow its own wineries to ship wine to residents in the state, but ban out-of-state wineries from doing the same thing it brought about a sea change in how wine was distributed in the U.S., particularly by small wineries. It was the result of a good strategy that was paid for primarily by California wineries. It’s for this reason, among others, that California should change its own discriminatory laws where wine distribution is concerned.

California allows its own wineries to bypass the middleman wholesaler and sell directly to restaurants and retailers in the state. However, state law bans out-of-state wineries from bypassing those same California wholesalers and selling directly to retailers and restaurants in the state.

Read the article by Fermentation here.