Illinois' new wine shipping law

Illinois' new wine shipping law is a travesty.

Many of you are probably aware of the 2005 Supreme Court decision that struck down state wine shipping laws in Michigan and New York. At the time, both states had laws that allowed in-state wineries to ship to in-state residents, but prohibited out-of-state wineries to ship to in-state residents. The Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against out of state wineries.

At the time, Illinois had a quite liberal shipping policy that basically let Illinois residents buy wine from most out of state sources, whether they be a vineyard in California, an auction house, a wine store, etc.

The law that was just passed allows Illinois residents to have wine shipped to them from any source within the state, and from most out-of-state wineries. But it PROHIBITS Illinois residents from buying wine from out-of-state retailers and auction houses, something we were previously allowed to do.

I buy wines from auctions and from specialty shops in other states. I will not be allowed to do this anymore. Wine of the Month clubs that are based out of state will also be illegal. This is ridiculous.

These restrictions are not based on protecting minors, as restrictive wine laws are sometimes justified. These restrictions are the result of heavy lobbying by distributors. In fact, as the Wine Spectator article linked below notes: "Since 2000, according to campaign contribution reports, Illinois distributors of alcohol have donated $5.4 million to Illinois politicians. No other state in the country has recorded liquor-related donations surpassing that total in the same time."

See
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Featu ... 38,00.html
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... ing-b.html
http://winediva.wordpress.com/2007/08/0 ... e-screwed/

That's horrible. Over at Woot.com they have great wine's of the week, and it will be a true loss to not have that option anymore.

Blowgo has not signed the bill and has until Oct 21st
I'm not sure what happens if he does not sign it.....
(would this be a pocket veto?)
you can check the status of HB429
here

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=429&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=27365&SessionID=51&GA=95

The Chicago Tribune site that I linked above says that the Governor has already signed it, as does the website you posted.

I did post the link and did not check to see that the Gov had signed it today!
bummer! no more out of state retailers.

Bill Wirtz lives on. What is interesting is that one of the main backers of this bill is the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois, eventhough the bill has nothing to do with beer. They must be pushing similar legislation of their own. They have been issuing releases that claim that internet beer sales lead to underaged drinking. As a teen, I never had a problem obtaining beer, even back when the internets were just a gleam in Al Gore's eye.

Thanks for the mention of my blog! I've added a bit more info on the shipping bill passed yesterday and have more coming from my interview with the Marketing Manager of Lynfred tomorrow. Love to hear more comments from folks in IL about this bill. winediva.wordpress.com

Hey Christine!
Glad to see you posting here.

mel

Earlier this year MA passed a new restrictive law that kept me from sending wine baskets to my folks as gifts. But the retailers (like wine.com) only had to reapply for licenses, which they did. I can now ship to MA again. But even there, it was the same deal. The liquor lobby paid off the politicians. Pretty sad state of affairs.

Funny article in couple-weeks-ago Saturday Wall Street Journal:

Vodka is - according to the author - not well suited for distillation in a pot still, the usual device for hand-crafted liquors. So, the makers' alcohol of choice is industrial-grade beverage alcohol produced at 190 proof by ADM and several other industrial distillers. It is shipped in - your choice - either rail tankers or tanker trucks to the bottlers of high-society vodka, who cut it with some kind of designer water and fashion an advertising campaign based on some "hook" that their marketers hope will catch your imagination. A kicky label helps, too.

Bottoms up!

Actually, my $10.99 vodka of choice is a pretty good paintbrush cleaner, too.

Speaking of vodkas, I like Sweda Swedish vodka when I'm trying to impress the neighbors. I got some at the local Westbrook Market for $21/ 1.5 liter; priced it today at Jewel, where it's a real bargain at $35.99 "marked down" from an alleged price of $41.00.

Bought it today at Costco for $17.99.

Another coup for Jewel.

Unbelievable. I've used Woot.com and there are a few products you just can't get anywhere in Illinois for various reasons -- certain California wines, and the like.

Yeah, the whole situation is pretty craptastic. As much as I stomp my feet and shout about it, no one outside the foodie blogosphere seems to think this law will affect the average person. I think we may just have to wait until it takes effect and enough people in Illinois start getting inconvenienced and aggrivated. Ugh.

winediva wrote: As much as I stomp my feet and shout about it, no one outside the foodie blogosphere seems to think this law will affect the average person.

It's a pretty big stink on the wine boards too!....
Tom Wark has kept up the fight and I sure hope he and the SWRA can get this garbage law amended to allow out of state retailers to apply for a sales permit (and collect the IL tax if need be) I for one will not be buying ANY IL wines from the wineries that supported this bill.

Bastards

As of a minute ago, wine.woot.com will still ship to Illinois. It looks like they have a deal with an Illinois retailer to sell Illinois residents the wine on their behalf, while woot still handles the shipping.

This is similar nonsense to the State of New Mexico deciding that all airlines serving a New Mexico airport and serving liquor in flight must have a New Mexico liquor license. It's just paperwork for the sake of paperwork and obfuscation, in the hope that people will just give up.

The new law doesn't take effect until 6/08. Until then, out of state retailers will still ship to Illinois.

deesher wrote:The new law doesn't take effect until 6/08. Until then, out of state retailers will still ship to Illinois.

But somehow the rest of the US seems to think the law has already taken effect. We just got notification that some wine we ordered a long time ago is ready to ship, but that they don't ship to Illinois any more.

I've received a number o shipments in the past few weeks. They should be willing to ship to you. Have you called them? You could send them the legislation, including the effective date. I don't have a link handy, but if I find one I will post it.

I've never been a very big wine drinker, but that's absolutely ridiculous that this new law does prohibit out-of-state wineries from shipping to Illinois! I thought I heard the opposite about this law too, that it would keep Illinois wine shipping laws as liberalized as before. Guess I heard wrong about it. (also checked mhill95149's link to this legislation on ilga.gov, and Blago has since stupidly signed this into law)

And thank you, evil bastard spirit of Bill Wirtz, for passing this law......

dumpstermcnuggets wrote:I've never been a very big wine drinker, but that's absolutely ridiculous that this new law does prohibit out-of-state wineries from shipping to Illinois! I thought I heard the opposite about this law too, that it would keep Illinois wine shipping laws as liberalized as before. Guess I heard wrong about it. (also checked mhill95149's link to this legislation on ilga.gov, and Blago has since stupidly signed this into law)

You've misread the law. Illinois residents have been, and still will be, able to buy wine from out-of-state wineries.

The change in the law is the Illinois residents will not be able to buy from out-of-state retailers.

The governor had signed the law when this thread was first started. He didn't "just" sign it.

Actually only SOME wineries will be legal to ship to IL
There are plenty of small wineries who make their wine at custom crush
facilities or at another winery's facility and they are required to hold a certain kind of license that is different from the the type a winery with a
a facility (where they make the wine & have a tasting room)
The Il law (HB429) clearly regulates against the small wineries as the license
they hold is IIRC the same license that is held by retailer....

not very clear on my end but I'm just a bummed wine buyer and not a lawyer....

Darren72 wrote:

dumpstermcnuggets wrote:I've never been a very big wine drinker, but that's absolutely ridiculous that this new law does prohibit out-of-state wineries from shipping to Illinois! I thought I heard the opposite about this law too, that it would keep Illinois wine shipping laws as liberalized as before. Guess I heard wrong about it. (also checked mhill95149's link to this legislation on ilga.gov, and Blago has since stupidly signed this into law)

You've misread the law. Illinois residents have been, and still will be, able to buy wine from out-of-state wineries.

The change in the law is the Illinois residents will not be able to buy from out-of-state retailers.

The governor had signed the law when this thread was first started. He didn't "just" sign it.

I guess I did read through the law too quickly. So basically, interpreting from your post and mhill's, this new law only allows wineries that have a certain license to ship wine into IL, and prohibits out-of-state retailers that have another type of license from shipping into IL? I'm somewhat confused after reading your post, and hope you can explain what you were trying to say.

Maybe the law is like what mhill said, in the post in this thread he made after yours(and one above this latest post here), for all I know.