Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/590181
1 1 8 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | N o v - D e c 2 015 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m END POST TYLER COLMAN elcome news came t o w i n e e n t h u s i- asts in the middle of the summer. No, it wasn't in the form o f a b a l m y h a r v e s t update; it was from hot and humid Washington, D.C.: Representative Jackie Speier, a Democrat who serves California's 14th district, introduced a bill to allow wine ship- ments to go through the mail. A l t h o u g h y o u c a n s e n d checks electronically and e-mail has put a hammerlock on "snail mail," nobody has (yet) worked out a way to down- load wine from a smartphone or a laptop. So the bill would be a victory for consumers, wineries and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). It deserves broad support from the wine trade and wine con- sumers. S p e i e r p r o p o s e d similar wine-by-mail leg- islation in the last Con- gress, but it withered on the vine. The previ- ous bill was narrower in focus, with just one co-sponsor and limited shipping to bonded wineries. The current bill, officially known as H.R. 3412, has 24 co-sponsors, including four Republicans. It also includes a broader range of shippers, expand- ing the previously proposed legisla- tion to any licensed entity, including shops. Speier's effort to build a broader coalition this time around should give H.R. 3412 a greater chance of success. What it needs now is friends in high places. Senator Chuck Schumer gave verbal sup- port to it in the last session of Con- gress, but has yet to officially come out in favor of the new bill. What states allow the interstate shipping of wine from retailers. The land of the free deserves more of a free market in wine. Clearly, the USPS also would benefit from the bill's passage. Estimates for the value of wine and alcohol shipments in the first year (the bill allows for beer and spirits, too) range from $50 million to $225 million. While that is small potatoes for the government agency, which had more than $65 bil- l i o n i n r e v e n u e l a s t year, it's a step toward a turnaround for USPS. Further, if the USPS gets hooked on booze revenue, proponents of the liberalization of wine shipments would have a strong ally in Washington, D.C. Wine-by-mail would be the thin edge of a wedge to achieve leverage against wholesalers that have sty- mied efforts toward free ship- ping. And since the bill would require wine recipients to show ID and sign for packages, it would address one of the main bul- warks for arguments against ship- ping liberalization. The bill is heading in the right direction. Hopefully, it can become a sparkling example of bipartisan collaboration. T y l e r Colman, a u t h o r o f t h e wine blog Dr. Vino, teaches wine classes at New York University and the University of Chicago, and wrote the book "Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmen- talists, Mobsters, and Critics Influ- ence the Wines We Drink." Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. (Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of Vineyard & Winery Management.) Wine Deserves to Go Postal about Speaker Boehner, who likes a good Brunello? Or the Congres- sional Wine Caucus? All 50 states have at least one bonded winery, so why doesn't the bill have at least 50 sponsors, one from each state? Having a third shipper of wine beyond the FedEx/UPS duopoly could yield lower rates, which would benefit both consumers and wineries. USPS has taken over lots of package delivery for Amazon and now includes some Sunday deliveries. It even has been work- ing on creating 2-, 4- and 6-bottle flat rate shippers. There's no get- ting around the fact that wine is heavy, so it's not an item likely to qualify for "free" shipping. But competition generally does push prices down. Consumers and wineries also would benefit if this discussion gets out into the open and creates greater awareness of the absur- dity of shipping laws in our coun- try. Yes, 42 states are now open to some degree of winery-direct ship- ping, with the category account- ing for $1.8 billion in sales last year. But it's a tragedy that only 14