May 16, 2025, marks the 20th anniversary of a landmark moment for wine lovers, wineries, and common sense: the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Granholm v. Heald which was a milestone in the fight for winery-to-consumer direct shipping. While it didn’t make national headlines for long, its impact has been aging beautifully — like ... Read more
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES ON DTC SHIPPING This spring has been a busy season for legislative activity around DTC shipping and associated issues. We saw some great success in a couple of areas, while in other areas we remain hopeful that we can continue our campaigns in the next legislative sessions. Below is a look at current ... Read more
We’re happy to report success in Arkansas! This state was one of two that maintained an on-site purchase requirement. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has recently signed legislation that will finally make the state open to winery-to-consumer direct shipping. Arkansas’s On-Site Requirement This requirement meant that consumers were required to visit the winery premises to complete ... Read more
Brush up on your vocabulary around winery to consumer direct shipping The subject of DTC wine shipping is a complex one, seemingly with its own language. Here is a quick rundown of some key words in this conversation; a refresher to help you keep on top of the discussion: Shipping – this is when the ... Read more
Supporting direct to consumer shipping for wineries Since 1998, we’ve been proud to help create DTC sales opportunities for wineries by increasing direct shipping. We couldn’t agree more with this statement from a recent Forbes article – “While one consumer’s voice can be impactful…, collective action and many voices all talking in unison can be ... Read more
Updated May 2025 The original language in this bill (S 2145) contained some concerning points, some of which were remedied more recently with the passing of S 2851, on 4/10/25. The requirements still limit consumer choice by restricting DTC sales to only those wines not sold in the state control system, or to those wines ... Read more
DTC WINERY SHIPPING LEGISLATIVE UPDATES Fresh off of the 2025 Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium and we are already seeing action in several states, as predicted by Steve Gross (VP State Relations – Wine Institute) in his keynote “State of the States” address. Mississippi, Delaware, and New Jersey are expected to see legislative action in ... Read more
DTC SHIPPING LEGISLATIVE UPDATES An alphabetical update on recent actions in select states: ALASKA: Resolution reached As of June 28, 2024, the AMCO Alcohol Board finally approved the MDSL/Package store shipping rules – and these have just been confirmed to go into effect August 23, 2024. These rules clarify the outstanding issues that have caused ... Read more
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES An alphabetical update on recent action in select states: ALASKA: Continued progress on changes to permit lawsAs you will remember, taking effect at the start of 2024 was a rewrite to current rules governing the Manufacturer Direct Shipment License (MDSL), which is a license that the Alaska Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office (AMCO) ... Read more
As you may know, Delaware is one of only three states that continue to ban all winery-to-consumer direct shipping. The other two are Mississippi and Utah. A new bill, House Bill 262, would allow American wineries licensed by Delaware to ship a limited amount of wine directly to your Delaware based home or office. And we ... Read more
