Give us free!

Any of you that have ever purchased wine in one state and tried to ship it to another will surely appreciate the efforts of Free The Grapes, a grassroots coalition of wine producers, retailers, and consumers that are fighting the sometimes arcane and always anachronistic state laws that prohibit the direct-to-consumer wine sales.

What I've always found especially troubling (and I have it worse than most, as I live in PA where the laws are really prohibitive and the state has a powerful monopoly on all almost wine buying) is that the wine wholesaler industry is so woefully behind the times. Anyone who has ever shopped on Amazon.com should appreciate the power of direct-to-consumer sales. It's not the wave of the future, it's the status quo of the present.

And yet, the state-run and wholesaler industries refuse to adapt their business models, in an effort to protect their profits. I'm not necessarily against protecting a company bottom line, but not when the trade-off is reduced service and choice for the average Joe wine consumer. It's like we're being held hostage - and in PA, they not only restrict the choices of what wine you can buy, they charge you a premium for the inconvenience!

If, like me, you live in a state that trends towards Communism in its wine buying options, you should check out Free the Grapes and use their website to contact your state legislators to let them know how you feel.

Finally - if you are lucky enough to live in one of the more enlightened states that does allow you to purchase wine from wherever you like, I recommend checking out NY Chateau Frank's Celebre Rose (a nice and fun bubbly), as well as the stellar Napa 1999 Pine Ridge Cab Sav (excellent balance overall and a magic dried prune fruit profile).

Cheers!