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With a year of using the revised wine-shipping laws under their belts, Indiana wineries aren't really happy with the restrictions.
For those who don't remember, two years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for states to treat in-state wineries one way and out-of-state wineries another way. The problem in many states was in-state wineries were allowed to ship wine directly to customers, but out-of-state wineries were not.
For about 30 seconds, wine lovers cheered because we all thought this meant shipping would open up for everyone. We imagined being able to order wine from our favorite wineries in Illinois, New York and Rhode Island. We thought we'd be able to join wine clubs out of California. We thought if we couldn't find a particular Indiana wine on the shelves of the local stores, like Chateau Thomas' amazing Black Gold, we could hop online and order it.
We - and thousands of other wine lovers - were mistaken.
Instead, many states, including Indiana, quickly moved to reverse laws and practices that had been in place for years. Instead of opening up shipping, states clamped down, with many states trying to eliminate shipping entirely.
In many states, Indiana included, state officials and wineries compromised: Anyone wanting to ship wine directly to consumers would have to obtain a permit and could only ship to people who visited the winery first to offer proof that they are at least 21.
The regulations the General Assembly approved last year weren't what the wineries wanted, but they agreed to them and figured they would see how it went. And considering the bill at one point would have not only ended shipping entirely but would have forced many wineries to close, a compromise seemed to be in their best interest.
So how has this wonderful “compromise” worked out?
It hasn't gone well for most wineries.
The state's largest winery, Oliver Winery in Bloomington, lost 75 percent of its shipping market. That's a pretty sizable chunk for the employee-owned winery.
“It's just such a nightmare,” Bill Oliver said of the new regulations. “They make it so inconvenient it just isn't practical.”
Other wineries have also suffered, with one paying the ultimate price: Terre Vin Winery, in Rockville north of Terre Haute, closed this year, citing the new regulations as being too much for a small staff.
Lawmakers love to talk about supporting family businesses, farms, Indiana products and agritourism, but the shipping debate showed they were much more willing to listen to big-money distributors. The law was called a “compromise,” but it's hard to see it that way when the wholesalers essentially held a gun to the head of small wineries to win their agreement.
Many winemakers we talked to were disgusted by the whole thing, and especially by the stench of money in the debate: The Institute for Money and Politics' Web site, www.followthemoney.org, shows contributions by “Beer, Wine & Liquor” special interests in Indiana made more than $300,000 in contributions from 41 different political action groups, businesses and business owners in that industry just in 2006.
Small, family-owned wineries will never be able to match those kinds of contributions - as if that should matter - to get lawmakers' attention, so they have to do what they can.
“None of us - none of us - can afford to not be there and put a face on it and show who we are,” Winzerwald's Dan Adams said. “Where the legislature's concerned, anything's possible.”
Adams said they constantly get calls from people who have had Winzerwald's wines at a friend's house and want to order some, but the winery has to turn them down.
“They say, ‘We had it at Bob and Jane's, can we get some of it?' ” Adams said. But if they haven't been to the winery in person - and have the paperwork to prove it - the answer has to be no.
At the other end, Satek Winery in Fremont has actually done more shipping since the adoption of the law a year ago. But that's primarily because the winery did no shipping before because the shipping laws were so different from state to state and because the winery sold out of enough wine without adding shipping to the mix. When shipping became a hot topic, more people became aware of the option and asked Satek to ship.
Being so close to the Toll Road, Satek gets a lot of out-of-town shoppers. Some are on vacation and don't want to cart around a case of wine the rest of their trip or risk having it boil in their trunk.
Still, owner Larry Satek doesn't like the law and expects a court case filed by out-of-state wineries to force another change.
“I find it hard to believe the face-to-face requirement isn't going to be declared unconstitutional,” Satek said. “It turns out it's not trivial to do this - the paperwork is incredible.”
So it appears the General Assembly will have another chance to use common sense. Let's hope they do this time.
Cheers!
