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Find out more about Bill: Bill Dowd is a New Yorker who is an international wine and spirits judge and a print and online journalist/editor who has been covering the beverage universe -- including non-alcoholic drinks -- for decades. |
Unless the state continues to wage war on its own consumers, a Christmas Eve ruling by a federal appeals court will stand, making Kentucky allow out-of-state wine shipments into the state even if the purchase was made via telephone or online.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2006 decision from U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Simpson III that knocked down a state law prohibiting shipments of such wine purchases from out of state.
Cherry Hill Vineyards owners Jan and Mike Sweeney (above) filed a lawsuit that allowed the three-judge panel to rule on the case. They said Kentucky's in-person purchase requirement violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and illegally gives preference to Kentucky business over out-of-state merchants
Cherry Hill Vineyards is located in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The 12,000-square-foot winery produces about 7,000 cases of estate-grown pinot noir each year from grapes grown on its 90 acres, as well as some pinot gris and dry rose.
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