Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Amazon to Sell Wine

The rumors that Amazon is going to sell wine online appear to be true. Reuters reports that sales may begin next month:

Seattle-based Amazon is looking to sell wine in approximately 26 states and wine sold on its site will come from all regions of the country, Hall said. ...

To avoid the confusing legal issues over the interstate sale of wine that vary from state to state, Amazon will be working with New Vine Logistics, a Napa, California-based company dealing in wine fulfillment that can deliver to up to 45 states.

“Amazon is outsourcing to New Vine the logistics of its wine direct business to make sure it’s being done properly and legally,” Insel said.

What we must hope is that Amazon decides to come down on the free the grapes side of the political fight in the recalcitrant states. Back when the rumors first circulated, Slate’s wine columnist offered up a column on regulation of interstate shipping of wine, in which he included a nice comment about yours truly:

Stephen Bainbridge, a law professor at UCLA who also maintains an excellent wine blog, is sticking by what he wrote in a column for TCS Daily on the one-year anniversary of the Granholm decision: “We’re no closer to a true national wine market; instead, both producers and consumers are still mired in the economic Balkans.” Bainbridge thinks the best hope of fixing the current distribution system is to challenge it on antitrust grounds. Costco, the country’s largest wine retailer, mounted just such an effort in a suit it brought against the state of Washington four years ago. It won a resounding victory in a federal district court in 2006, but that verdict was overturned in late January by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Costco is appealing to have the case heard by the entire 9th Circuit, and there is a chance the matter will end up before the Supreme Court—eventually. “I am just damn glad I live in California,” says Bainbridge, noting that his home state has some of the most progressive shipping laws in the nation.