Winemaker Charles Smith discusses the decline in wine sales on ‘Varney & Co.’
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, states that currently prohibit shipping alcoholic beverages to family and friends are working to change one of America’s last remaining “blue laws.”
Delaware, Mississippi and Utah all prohibit direct shipment of wine, with several other states enforcing varying restrictions.
Utah is considered a “felony state” in terms of liquor transit, with one of the only loopholes being a one-quart allowance of brandy from a resident returning from abroad.
In Delaware, the local winery industry is being unduly burdened by similar laws.
“Delaware is one of three states in the country that still allows no direct shipment of alcohol,” said state Rep. Jeff Spiegelman, R-Townsend.
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“This would enhance small business. It would enhance an agricultural product, and it would allow consumers to get the products that they’re demanding. They are demanding the service. And we’re planning on giving it to them,” he said in a video statement.
Spiegelman pointed to Harvest Ridge Winery in Marydel, Del., which by its name denotes its location on the state line.
Maryland customers are able to ship their wine, but Delawareans can’t under the law.
The lawmaker said the misconception with prohibitions like the First State’s is that opening up the shipping market would let bulk amounts of liquor proverbially flow freely around the state via Amazon and other retailers.
But the 47 other state test-cases show that is not accurate.
State Rep. Mike Smith, the sponsor of the legislation, said he hopes to put it forward in session very soon – and is encouraged that the “changing of the guard” in Dover will give it a good chance of passing.
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer did not respond to a request for comment, but did replace term-limited fellow Democrat John Carney. Additionally, the leadership of Delaware’s Democratic legislative majority changed with the new year.
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Wilmington, on the Christiana River, is Delaware’s largest city. (iStock / iStock)
“I think everybody’s coming at it from ‘This is the best deal we’re going to get. Let’s do it,’” said Smith, R-Hockessin.
New House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown, D-New Castle, did not respond to a request for comment.
Smith’s district abuts Oxford, Pa., and the lawmaker said he sees many customers from the Keystone State able to ship Delaware wine to their homes without issue as well.
Pennsylvania has had its own stringent liquor laws for decades, since former GOP Gov. Gifford Pinchot set the stage for its state-store system in the early 20th century.
Only in 2016 did Harrisburg move to allow wineries to ship limited quantities of wine – so long as they obtain a license and pay excise taxes. All other liquor must be purchased from government-run Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.
Supermarkets in the state also only recently found themselves allowed to sell beer.
During the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, a Naaman’s Corner, Del., booze superstore saw such a surge in Pennsylvanian customers locked out of their own shuttered state-run alcohol retailers – and slipping the few hundred yards across the state line – to the point that Delaware police began stopping out-of-state vehicles near the shopping center.
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Northbound traffic enters Delaware on the JFK Turnpike near Newark (Getty)
The disparity in booze-shipping and -purchasing laws – and movements to change them to mirror the rest of the country – are not unique to the northeast, as Mississippi lawmakers told Fox News Digital on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Tupelo State’s House Speaker Jason White, R-Kosciusko, said the chamber passed a bill in 2024 similar to Delaware’s planned legislation.
That effort died in the state Senate, but the spokesperson said the House plans to try again this session. The Mississippi plan would permit the direct shipment of wine – excluding liquor – and cap the amount of units per household. The state Senate reportedly has drafted a similar bill that gives proponents hope.
Meanwhile, Steve Gross, vice president of state relations for the Wine Institute, said the advocacy group is “very supportive” of efforts to pass “direct-to-consumer wine-shipping law[s]. . . .”
“We appreciate the work of these legislators to provide this choice to the citizens of Delaware.”
