OK. Now we can say that the May Supreme Court decision has actually changed something. Wildly misunderstood, this ruling simply set new rules for how individual states must legislate wine sales directly to consumers. Which meant that we had to wait around for states to get busy passing legislation. Well New York (and Connecticut, by the way) has quickly done just that, and changed the lives of its wine buying residents forever.
Governor Pataki is expected to sign a bill this week allowing out-of-state wineries to ship up to 36 cases of wine per year to each resident of New York state, as long as they are doing so from a state which allows New York wineries to do the same. Additionally, this bill allows New York wineries to ship directly to New York consumers, bypassing the draconian distribution laws and agents that have been in place for years.
It’s a grand week for New York, so raise a glass to justice and democracy in action! And would someone tell me which Long Island wineries I should start buying from?
