Wine drinkers seek right to home delivery

The menu may expand for area wine enthusiasts if a bill before the General Assembly passes.

Under current law, which dates back to Prohibition, wine can neither be shipped from outside the state, nor within it, to Maryland homes.

So if a wine enthusiast wants to swirl a pinot noir from a small vineyard in Napa Valley, for example - one that can't be found in his neighborhood liquor store - he can't order a case online and have it delivered to his doorstep. Instead, the law involves a three-tiered model, using a state-licensed wholesaler as a middleman between the retailer and the consumer.

Currently, residents would have to pick up their rare red or white from a nearby liquor store, where the wholesaler would deliver it, and pay the store extra fees for the handling.

Speakers identifying themselves as wine lovers, aficionados and enthusiasts joined some retailers to give

"spirited" testimonies in favor of the bill last Wednesday during a hearing before the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.

Sen. Jamie B. Raskin, D-Montgomery, who is a sponsor of the legislation, said the outlawing of direct shipping poses "a serious moral hazard" to consumers because it limits the market.

"Everyone can appreciate consumer sovereignty to purchase the wine that they want to get," he said.

But not everyone embraces the senator's sentiment.

In fact, two bills in prior sessions to repeal the law against home wine delivery already have failed. Some local liquor-licensing board members, wholesalers and retailers opposed the bill and said allowing direct shipment will weaken the state's control over underage alcohol sales.

Chuck Ferrar, owner of Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis, said he thinks it's a "bad bill."

"This is the beginning of deregulation," he said, adding that the potential loss of revenue for businesses like his to out-of-state retailers could result in job cuts.

Despite the sobering national economic downswing, statewide wine industry revenue has not suffered, according to Maryland Wineries Association statistics for fiscal 2008. The industry saw a more than 18 percent uptick in sales over the previous year.

Bill sponsors said they hope the state can reap some of the benefits of wine's rising popularity. Under the proposed legislation, wineries would pay a $100 shipping license to the state. If enacted, it is expected to generate about $90,000 for fiscal 2010, according to fiscal notes.

At least 35 other states, including Virginia and West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing direct wine shipping to residences. Those jurisdictions capture sales and excise taxes - revenue the Maryland Comptroller's Office doesn't collect when wine buyers cross state lines for those special deliveries.

That's exactly what Eastport wine lover Paul Hoffstein said he does to bypass the state's "cumbersome" shipping procedure. When he wants a rare or limited wine, he said he has it delivered to his daughter's home in Virginia.

He believes the argument that the bill would increase booze-by-mail to teens just cloaks a liquor lobbyist agenda, he said.

To enforce federal drinking laws, the bill would require mail carriers to get an electronic signature confirming the recipient is 21 or older, according to policy notes.

"It's silly," Hoffstein said. "This isn't going to bring Boone's Farm to kids. That's not the way they get their alcohol."

Others' testimonies resonated, claiming teens would not likely spend $35 in shipping taxes on $22 worth of cheap wine that would take two weeks to arrive.

Hoffstein, a member of a club called The Cork and Fork, for which about 20 wine connoisseurs get together for black-tie dinner events to sample select vintages, said the bill serves to satisfy the growing wine-tasting culture developing in Maryland.

If the legislation passed, he said he'd still buy most of his spirits at the five local liquor stores he patronizes. But he said he'd take advantage of Internet shipping for special-occasion wines, like a Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon - about $90 a bottle before tax - or a Dalla Valle Maya - more than $200 a bottle before tax.

"These are companies that sell out (their season's stock) in weeks," he said. "Yeah, wine people are crazy."

Sen. Janet Greenip, R-Crofton, who sits on the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, said many of her constituents have contacted her, pleading for their right to order wine online. In e-mails alone, she has received about 50 comments regarding the issue this year, and only five have asked for the law to stay the same.

"The citizenry really wants this change," she said.

Though groups like Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws believe the bill has a fighting chance to succeed this time, Greenip said it's too early for her to speculate.

"There were three members of the committee that were sponsors of the bill, but three doesn't necessarily get you a 'favorable,' " she said.