Virginia Not for Wine Lovers?

Filed in archive Wine Laws on May 16, 2007

I couldn't help but think of the slogan we see so many times on cars: Virginia is for Lovers. That may be true, but the wine law battle raging in this state is not so lovely.

From Virginia Wine Laws to Stay:

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to review Virginia laws limiting the sale and consumption of out-of-state alcohol.

The state allows only Virginia wine to be sold in state-run liquor stores and restricts the amount of alcohol consumers can bring into the state for personal drinking.

The laws were upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed a lower court's ruling that those two provisions of the state's alcoholic beverage Control Act unconstitutionally impede interstate commerce. The court ruled that a "market participant" exception to the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause allows Virginia's ABC stores to sell only wine produced in the state.

Perhaps I don't get the full deal about this story, but it seems like a strange law.