A Leap Down the Rabbit Hole of Utah's Deeply Crazy (and kinda Fascist) Wine Laws

The ironies abound.

A very special raffle will be occurring in Utah. So special is this raffle that the Salt Lake Tribune gave the event several column inches in that vaunted journal. Interestingly, the Tribune did not note the very odd thing about the raffle.

If you’ve got some extra Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket, consider entering the latest drawing of rare high-demand wine offered by the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services….Among the bottles one can get a chance to buy are: a Richebourg Grand Cru for $2,226.14, a Romanee-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru for $2,226.14, a Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru for $1,348.81, an Echezeaux Grand Cru for $831.81, and a Corton Grand Cru for $808.31. All were bottled in 2019 in the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, an estate in Burgundy, France, that is considered one of the world’s best wine producers….Those who are selected will be notified by the DABS to arrange pickup at their preselected state liquor store, where they can purchase their wine, according to the website.

What exactly is going on here?

The state of Utah—the ENTIRE State— has been allocated a total of 2 bottles of each of the five wines listed above. To ensure that the most wine-crazed and deep-pocketed Utahans each have a fair chance to purchase one of these bottles, the state will raffle the opportunity to purchase them.

This is all good and fair of the Utah Alcohol Beverage Services, which acts as both the wholesaler and retailer of wine in the most alcohol-restrictive state in the country. And Lord knows Utah doesn’t want to be unfair to its wine drinkers.