Vintage Story

Epistemological epiphany:
Life must be lived forwards,
but can only be understood backwards
Mercifully, life may be enjoyed sideways!

Full Moon: February 2, 2007. Allen Dale Olson a/k/a the Pontiff of Palate, Story Inn’s Wine Connoisseur. Copyright 2007 Story Bed & Breakfast, LLP, d/b/a Story Inn, all rights reserved.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY TIME

            The Pontiff would love to tell you about the delicious wines you’ll experience at Story’s annual Valentine’s Dinner on February 9, but rather than praise the joys of a fruity St-Amour or a luscious Sauternes, we must focus on the archaic attitudes of our General Assembly toward wine consumption and wine lovers, especially their resistance to allowing direct shipment from winery to consumer.

            For example, there are nearly 5,000 wineries in the United States, but we Hoosiers have access to a mere 250 or so through our retail outlets. That’s because Indiana law requires wine sold in our state to pass through a wholesaler and retailer to the purchaser. Our 40 Indiana wineries are permitted to sell directly from their premises and under certain circumstances at additional outlets such as tasting rooms or farmers’ markets. Out-of-state wineries can ship if they pay a fee to the Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco  and send no more than 3000 cases total to the state and no more than 24 cases to any individual provided that individual has visited the winery. In short, Indiana law makes it very difficult to arrange for direct shipping of wine from producer to household, unlike just about any other product purchased from a catalog or on-line.

Kathleen Hoerstcorn, CEO of New Vintage Logistics, a company that helps winery owners cope with state regulations, calls Indiana’s requirements the most restrictive in the nation.

            The May 2005 Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the Commerce Clause requires in-state and out-of-state wineries to be treated equally. What it didn’t make clear was just how this should be done. Indiana went through a ridiculous cycle of banning all shipments to consumers, then recanting to impose a complicated series of steps for those who desire such shipping. The General Assembly last session enacted legislation that protected wholesalers at the expense of the consumers. It should be pointed out that proponents of that legislation received from wholesalers $181,043.21 in campaign funds between 2001 and 2004.

            The two main arguments against direct shipping are both based on scary misinformation: teens will use the internet to order wine; the state will lose tax dollars. Neither fear has been realized in any of the states that allow direct shipping.

            But the issue shouldn’t be just about direct shipping. Indiana wineries attract 800,000 visitors annually and generate some $33 million in revenue to the state every year. Wine acreage has increased 300% in the past fifteen years, and wine sales have increased 78% in just the last five years. It’s obvious that Hoosiers love their wineries.

            Support for the wineries can be translated into rural economic development, increased tourism income; and it can restore credibility to the free enterprise system. The biggest single reason our state lags behind other states in wine legislation favoring the consumer is that the consumer has had no voice in the Legislature. Consumers across the state need to let their Representatives and Senators know they want direct shipping, they want the right to buy wine from wineries of their choice from wherever they are. Letters, phone calls, e-mails are all effective. Any legislator who receives at least ten messages on an issue knows it deserves attention. Letters to newspaper editors are also helpful.

            In one of the next Lunacy articles the Pontiff will tell about a new wine consumer membership organization a-birthing.  In the meantime, write your legislator and come to the Valentine’s Dinner on February 9.  

Vintage Story is an e-newsletter authored by Ole Olson and published by the Story Inn, and is available free of charge to all who appreciate good wine. Vintage Story is published at each full moon. The author and the Story Inn specifically authorize the republication, reprinting and circulation of any issue Vintage Story so long as due credit is given to the author and to the Story Inn (which holds the copyright).

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