Beverage News Daily February 8, 2007 Small wineries can ship directly to Kentuckians who order their products by phone or Internet now that the state has dropped a federal lawsuit over the issue. A federal judge ruled in late December that a new state law would be unconstitutional because it required a customer to visit a winery in person to order a shipment by mail. The decision means 43 licensed wineries in Kentucky can ship wine to customers who place orders by phone or online. Small wineries in other states will be eligible to do the same, but the Kentucky Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control hadn’t received any applications for licenses as of Tuesday. To be considered for a shipping license, a winery must produce no more than 50,000 gallons of wine annually.

The state decided to drop out of the case because a judge’s ruling in December upheld “almost all” of the challenged portions of the new law, an ABC spokeswoman said.

To make matters worse through this process, the State of Maine has stated that even if a Maine winery obtains the appropriate permits to allow for shipping to another state, the State of Maine prohibits that sale. We are currently paying for a legal review of this and will let you know the outcome. If we are allowed to ship, we plan on obtaining permits in Florida and New Hampshire first. We will then add states as we see fit. Watch this space for updates.