Winemaking club Sides mount fight over wine sales
The Tennessee legislature is getting ready to debate one of the biggest changes in state liquor laws since the repeal of Prohibition.
Lawmakers, led by state Sen. Bill Ketron, will take up the possibility of allowing wine sales in grocery stores, and possibly wine sales over the Internet, this fall. There have been half-hearted attempts to loosen restrictions on wine sales in Tennessee before, but this time Ketron and his backers say there's been a sea change in Tennessee's attitude toward wine sales.
"We're going to have a good debate," said Ketron, who was caught by surprise when a wine sale bill he offered last session brought an avalanche of enthusiastic calls and messages into his office. The bill stalled in committee, but the response was enough to persuade the Murfreesboro Republican to convene a special study session on the issue in November, after the elections.
But not everyone is thrilled at the prospect of expanding wine sales in Tennessee, and both sides of the debate are lining up money and resources to plead their cases to Tennessee residents and lawmakers.
On one side of the debate are opponents of teen drinking and the state's liquor lobby, a powerful trifecta of wine and liquor wholesalers, retailers — from boutique wine specialty stores to mom-and-pop corner liquor stores — and the state malt beverage association, which doesn't want wine sales eating into its beer-display real estate in the groceries.
They warn that competition with big grocery stores could ruin smaller mom-and-pop operations. They also question why Tennessee should go out of its way to make alcohol more accessible.
The industry-backed site stopteendrinkingtn.org allows visitors to petition state lawmakers not to change the law, backed by testimonials from law enforcement.
"Where there is more access to alcohol, there are DUIs, more motor vehicle accidents," said Charles Sonnenberg, president of Frugal MacDoogal, Nashville's largest wine and liquor warehouse. "Do you think wine should be sold 24 hours a day? Do you think wine should be sold next door to schools?"
The Nashville-based chain has expanded into South Carolina, which allows grocery wine sales, and Sonnenberg says "we have far more problems" in that state than in Tennessee.
On the other side of the debate you have the grocers lobby and wine-loving consumers who want to be able to buy a little wine with their cheese.
The Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association launched a "Red, White and Food" campaign this spring, actively lobbying the Capitol for the first time and launching a grass-roots organizing effort that includes a Facebook group, online message boards and bumper stickers that ask, "Why not Wine?"
A tandem campaign by Tennessee Consumers for Fair Wine Laws — www.tnwinelovers.net — is pushing for direct sales of wine over the Internet. It's a prospect that horrifies wine sellers. Taxes on Tennessee wine are as much as 15 percent higher than on an out-of-state bottle, making it a very real possibility that consumers would bypass local sellers entirely.
Laws upset newcomers
Some of the loudest cries for change come from out-of-state transplants who have moved here in ever increasing numbers over the past decade — many of them from one of the 33 states that already allow grocery wine sales.
Yvonne Smith, who moved to Nashville with her husband eight years ago, remembers the shock of her first trip to the grocery store and the discovery that she could buy drink mixes, but not the drinks.
"If we can buy beer in the grocery store, why can't we buy wine?" she said. "If I'm on my way to a Sunday barbecue, I'd like to be able to stop in the store and pick up a nice, cheap bottle on the way. … It's a basic human right. Alcohol is legal, so why shouldn't we be able to buy it?"
Tennessee's restrictions on wine sales haven't stopped specialty chains like Trader Joe's from setting up shop. And local grocers can't wait for a chance to stock their shelves with wine.
"If you look at neighboring states, you see that wine and liquor stores can coexist with grocery stores that sell wine," said Todd Murphy, vice president and general manager of the Nashville-based H.G. Hill grocery store. "In some places, you see liquor stores and grocery stores right next to each other."
In Green Hills, Jesse Dunn manages the Wine Shoppe, which offers the kind of boutique vintages and wine-savvy staffers that you probably wouldn't find at the average grocery store. Still, he worries that grocery sales could cut into his profits and force him to reduce his small staff.
But liquor stores, too, are under some restrictions — also placed on them by the legislature. Right now, you can't buy beer in a Tennessee liquor or wine store. You can't buy a corkscrew, or drink mix or a wine glass, either.
"We would love to sell accessories," Dunn said. But for now, while the legislature debates his fate, he said, "We're just going to focus on bright smiles and good wine."