Wine-in-groceries debate resumes in Capitol hearing

Wine lovers, wine sellers, winemakers and retail grocers gathered Monday on Capitol Hill to debate — again — whether Tennessee should relax its liquor laws and allow wine to be sold on grocery shelves and over the Internet.

"Wine and food go together on the table and should go together in the store," said Jarron Springer, president of the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association, who kicked off the three-hour hearing in a Senate hearing room packed wall to wall with lobbyists from both sides.

Not so, countered Thad Cox, owner of Ashes Wine and Spirits in Knoxville, testifying on behalf of other small liquor retailers in the state. "If wine goes in the grocery stores, I guarantee you, each and every (mom-and-pop liquor store) in the state will have to sit down and make a decision about their staff, who they would have to lay off, or even whether they could keep their doors open," he said.

Last legislative session, State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, floated two bills that would have rewritten the state's wine regulations, but both died in committee without coming to a vote. Ketron, who intends to push ahead with a new version of his wine bills in the Senate, invited both sides in the debate back for a special pre-session hearing to hash out the issue before the legislature returns to work in January.

"We wanted everyone who has a relationship to wine to have a voice at the table, whether they're a retailer, wholesaler, shipper or just a consumer," said Ketron, who came out of the study session convinced that he had heard "compelling evidence from both sides."

Ketron and his fellow Republicans now control both houses of the legislature, but that's no guarantee the bills would fare any better than they did last time. The previous House sponsor, state Rep. Randy Rinks, D-Savannah, is retiring and Ketron said he has no idea yet who might step forward to push the wine legislation in the House next year.

Meanwhile, Ketron's interest in the bill has been pushed by his constituents' interest in the bill. Tens of thousands of new residents move into this state every year, many of them from states where grocery stores have sold wine for decades.

"Nobody wants Tennessee to remain in the backwater with regards to wine sales," said Rick Jelovsek, who operates the Tennessee Wine Lovers Web site and has filed suit to challenge the state's ban on direct mail shipment of wine.

Much of the debate on Monday centered around how much harm, and how much benefit, could come out of the bill. Supporters say expanding wine sales into grocery stores could increase sales tax revenues in Tennessee by more than $10 million a year, without hurting the small retailers.

"Is it going to hurt the local package stores? It never has," said John Hinman, general counsel for the Specialty Wine Retailers, noting that in other states that allowed grocery wine sales, sales of wine and liquor actually increased statewide. "No liquor store has ever been put out of business by a grocery store, ever."

The retailers disagree, and warn that the state would have to spend millions if the state Alcoholic Beverages Commission has to keep an eye on wine sales not only in liquor stores, but also in hundreds of grocery stores.