When Wine Retailers Aren't Really Wine Retailers

Exploring the strangest and worst argument ever made in support of protectionist and discriminatory wine shipping laws.

In 2019 the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to settle the question, may states discriminate against out-of-state wine retailers? We knew states could not do this with wineries ever since 2005 when the Supreme Court in its Granholm v Heald decision determined that New York’s and Michigan’s ban on wine shipments from out-of-state wineries while at the same time allowing its in-state wineries to ship to their residents violated the dormant Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution.

In 2019 the Supreme Court declared in its Tennessee Wine v Thomas decision that the non-discrimination principles laid out in the Granholm decision also applied to retailers. Since that decision, a series of lawsuits have challenged state laws that discriminate against out-of-state wine stores by banning them from shipping wine into their states while allowing their own retailers to ship wine to consumers in those states.