Is it legal for a person (not a business) to ship a bottle of wine to a person in another state?
I know a winery in Virginia can’t ship to me in Illinois, which is why I wonder if an individual can.
I couldn’t find anything at the USPS site.
Technically, an individual in Virginia can’t ship wine to you either as Virginia isn’t a reciprocal state with Illinois. The details are here: http://www.gotmead.com/commercial-mead/shipping-laws.shtml
Perfect. Thank you.
Although the winery in Virginia told me they could now ship to certain other states, so I suspect the page is a little out of date.
The woman at the winery said the laws recently ‘loosened up.’
Anyway, thanks.
The “loosening up” the winery person was talking about is in part due to a number of recent court cases. A number of these laws requiring reciprocality or complete bans have been struck down as violative of the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon, just downstairs from me, recently enjoined enforcement of the Texas ban on direct wine importations until the Texas Legislature could reform the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code. The injunction has been suspended now.
Basically, a state is constitutionally prevented by the dormant commerce clause from acting to economically protect its industries from out-of-state competition. On the other hand, the 21st Amendment specifically allows the states to regulate transportation of alcohol across their borders. So there’s a split among courts and circuits as to whether alcohol importation bans and reciprocation agreements are violative of the U.S. Constitution, or specifically allowed by it. Eventually if it gets to be a big enough problem SCOTUS may address it.