Wines & Vines - News Headlines - Oregon Shipping Permits Needed

When the Supreme Court seemingly overthrew interstate shipping restrictions for wine a few years ago we all celebrated. However, the cure was worse than the disease in this case. Formerly there may have been only a small group of reciprocal states, but they were easy. If you shipped to them they’d ship to you. That’s all there was too it. Today that system is being thrown by the wayside as state after state foregoes the simplicity of the old reciprocal system and adds layers of taxes and registrations required for out of state wineries to ship to consumers in that state. Now even Oregon has gone down this path.

The fundamental argument here is that large, industrial producers and distributors want to eliminate any competition from small producers in their markets and pay “lawmakers” to create regulations that give them a monopoly in their markets. As only small wine producers and consumers are hurt there seems to be nothing to worry about in state capitals across the nation.

There is no such thing as consumer protection when the government gets involved in wine, It’s only about grabbing tax money.