March 2025
While we’d indicated a promising start to 2025 for winery to consumer direct shipping legislative action in Mississippi, we’re disappointed to report that things have not panned out as we’d hoped.
Over the past month, several bills touching on winery to consumer direct shipping were introduced in the Mississippi House and Senate. Unfortunately, at this juncture all of these bills have either failed to be passed or have been amended with additional language or requirements that we find unworkable.
H 1175 (Powell) was a bill we had been supporting and has passed the House, but it too now includes unworkable requirements. We are no longer looking to support this bill as it does not fit with the model of winery to consumer direct shipping that we hope to see in practice.
S 2145 (Michael) was another bill and was actually signed into law by the Governor on 2/27/25. This will take effect as of July 2025. This bill was amended just before passage to include an unworkable provision which limits DTC sales to those wines not sold in the state control system, or to those wines already offered for sale but identified by distributors, brokers, or solicitors as “highly allocated” via a state website. This means that only a very small selection of wines will be allowed as winery to consumer direct shipments.
Free the Grapes! Supports legislation that follows the provisions of the model direct shipping bill. Legislation like this is working successfully in the majority of states, representing 98% of the U.S. population. The laws provide additional tax revenues, satisfy consumer demand, and meet regulatory requirements in a dynamic marketplace that allow consumers to benefit from winery to consumer direct shipping.
Removing barriers to winery to consumer direct shipping doesn’t hurt local retailers or wholesalers. On the other hand, regulated wine shipping boosts tax collections. And don’t believe the scare tactics; no state has rescinded its direct shipping laws based on non-compliance, underage access, loss of jobs from retailers or wholesalers, etc.
This issue is about market control. The influential retailers and wholesaler middlemen want to control what wines consumers can buy and how they buy them. Mississippi wineries – and there are a few of them – can’t even ship to Mississippi consumers! But these same wineries have the option of shipping to consumers in 47 other states and the District of Columbia. Mississippi is one of only three states that ban winery-to-consumer shipping.
We believe that consumers, not the politically powerful special interests, should determine which wines we can enjoy and how we purchase them. We will continue the fight to allow Mississippi wine lovers the freedom of consumer choice in wine that they deserve.
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