Liquor store fined $10,000 for selling wine gift bags

 Henrietta, New York (WSYR-TV) - If you've ever bought a bottle of wine as a gift, the easiest way to present the wine would be in a simple wine gift bag.

You'd think the two things go together, but it turns out that the state of New York prohibits wine stores from selling wine gift bags. A liquor store in the Rochester area has been fined $10,000 for selling the bags.

No one seems to understand what the law entails, but it’s clear the state will enforce it.

At stores like Marketview Liquor in Henrietta, you can buy wine, wine glasses, wine stoppers and corscrews -- but state law says they can’t sell gift bags to put their wine in.

Owner Mike Palmeri had no idea the law existed.

“I was incredulous, and I took everything down. I stopped doing it," Palmeri says.

Now the state doesn't care if wine stores give wine gift bags away, but the moment they try to sell them, it constitutes -- according to the State Liquor Authority -- running a second business, worthy of a $10,000 fine.

“I think it's pretty ridiculous. But the state needs money so they're looking for every possible way of getting it," says Palmeri.

Palmeri's customers have offered to start a petition to change the law and cancel his fine -- and the law is a pain for them too, because they thought they'd be able to one-stop shop for their wine gifts.

Through it all, Palmeri blames himself -- not the state. “Ignorance of the law is no excuse. It's like saying you didn't know what the speed limit was. I violated the statute," he says.

State Senator Joe Robach says the Liquor Authority should offer warnings before dropping $10,000 fines on store owners; Palmeri will now try to convince lawmakers like Robach to rewrite the law.

In the meantime, it might not make sense to you, but you'll have to buy your wine in one place -- and your wine gift bags in another.

Calls to the State Liquor Authority about why the law exists were not returned Monday.