Restricted Wine & Free The Grapes

So I stepped out of the office today for a short period of time to run by a drugstore to pick up some essentials. I have not been out in the area much around my work and this was my first time visiting this Rite Aid. I walk in and to my surprise they have a huge liquor section. I must remind you that this may come as a shock to not only most of you living in places like California or other states on the west coast were alcohol is readily available everywhere, even at gas stations! That’s a great angle to promote…. Here, buy some alcohol and drive. Anyways, I was utterly surprised to see this drugstore in Quincy, MA selling wine, beer and spirits. The reasoning behind my logic is that Massachusetts law permits one business from holding more than three liquor licenses. This essentially means that one corporation or business even though it may have hundreds of locations, can only sell alcohol at three of their locations. I really don’t understand the reasoning behind this law, but it makes no sense. In addition to this, a local ordinance, also known as a city only has a certain number of licenses they can grant based upon population. This is just pure wacky and not even the worst part of it.

The other side of this coin is the dirtiest. Massachusetts does not permit shipments of any beverage containing alcohol over its borders. This means that someone like me, being the wine lover who previously lived in California can not buy wine from an out of state retailer. This is unfortunate due to the fact that all of my beloved wine merchants are located in California. Look to the right of this post to see who my favorites are. It is very upsetting to live in a wine prison. This means that I have all of my wine shipments going to a storage facility in California until my return to the golden state. I am just glad that I don’t live in Pennsylvania where you are forced to buy alcohol from a state run monopoly store. I have researched this matter a little further and that’s when I stumbled across Free the Grapes.

Free The Grapes is a movement to promote legislation in state who ban interstate shipping. In an excerpt from their website “Free the Grapes! is a national grassroots coalition of wine lovers, wineries and retailers. Our goal is to allow wine consumers to purchase the wines they want, in the manner of their choosing.” This is exactly what I want to do. It makes no sense to ban shipping directly from the wineries to consumers. All it is is a trade barrier to protect local alcohol and wine producers as well as unfair market prices. If you have a fine appreciation for wine, then you must support this cause, even if you live in a state where this is not a problem. Fight the good fight against interstate shipping laws!!