If you want to ship wine to a family member or friend, think twice.
"It is never legal for an individual to ship wine," says the Wine Institute, an association of California wineries, on its Web site. "The U.S. Postal Service will not carry alcohol under any circumstances. Both FedEx and UPS have company policies that strictly prohibit accepting alcohol shipments from individuals for delivery."
Only licensed alcohol retailers and wineries that have signed a "wine shippers' agreement," which has special provisions for liability, packaging and reporting requirements, can ship into other states, the institute says. Packages shipped under wine agreements must meet rigorous labeling standards. They must be delivered in person so the recipient's identification can be checked.
"The goal is to avoid any possibility of a package being delivered into the hands of a minor," the institute says.
And most states do not allow shipments from individuals to enter, the institute says.
An Idaho law that allows only certain out-of-state retailers to sell wine to Idaho residents could be unconstitutional after a recent ruling in a Texas court, a wine industry group says.
Last week's ruling said Texas couldn't restrict out-of-state retailers from shipping wine to Texas if Texas allows in-state shipments from its own wine retailers.
According to the Idaho State Tax Commission, Idaho allows a wine retailer to ship to Idaho as long as the state where the retailer is based has a reciprocal agreement with Idaho. Fourteen states have reciprocal agreements with Idaho, and 36 don't.
Tom Wark, executive director of the Sacramento, Calif.-based Specialty Wine Retailers Association, whose organization filed the lawsuit in Texas, said Idaho's practice mirrors Texas'.
"Our argument would be that the practice is out of compliance with the Constitution and the Supreme Court," he said. "If Idaho lets Idaho retailers ship to Idahoans, they need to let out-of-state retailers ship to Idahoans."
Wark said his association doesn't plan a lawsuit in Idaho yet, but does have two other lawsuits pending in New York and Michigan. If it wins those suits, he said, Idaho could be forced to change its laws. He said California, Missouri and Alaska are already considering such changes.
The dispute is the latest wrinkle in longstanding disputes about wine shipments.
In 2005, the Supreme Court gave wineries more freedom to ship their wares to customers in other states. The court said states must allow out-of-state wineries to ship directly to residents if they give their own wineries direct shipping rights. Idaho changed its law as a result.
Now 36 states, including Idaho, and the District of Columbia allow wineries to ship directly to residents, although those rights are sometimes limited to just a few cases of wine annually or are accorded only to small wineries, said the Wine Institute, the major trade group for the California wine industry. Idaho also requires three permits for wineries to ship to Idaho.
But the court ruling did not apply to retailers.
The restrictions often surprise wine enthusiasts.
Dianna Dapkins thought the Internet would be the perfect place to find a rare Croatian wine that her local merchants in rural Shelburne, Mass., don't stock.
Sure enough, K&L Wine Merchants, an Internet retailer that also has stores in Hollywood and San Francisco, sells the Plenkovic Zlatan Plavac Barrique for $34.99. Dapkins clicked on the wine to buy it. She was stunned when the Web site would not let her complete the sale. "It is really frustrating," she said.
Such restrictions are generally supported by wine wholesalers and distributors, who see any relaxing of the rules as an assault on a distribution system that has served them profitably since the end of Prohibition in 1933.
They argue that the laws make good social policy by reducing access by minors, ensuring state tax collection and providing consumers with a wide selection of products.
Retailers disagree, saying that allowing people to order wine in other states improves consumer choice and often saves money.
"This is a pretty clear-cut argument about economics," said Greg Taylor of Taylor & Norton Wine Merchants in Sonoma, Calif. "The wholesalers want to have an iron grip on sales." What wholesalers charge for wine varies greatly by state, depending on competition and regulatory issues.
