Southern Maryland Grapes = Cash Crop (And Maryland Shipping Laws Are Still Stupid)
Piece in the Washington Post last week about how Southern Maryland farmers are recycling their tobacco fields into vineyards, hoping to reap the benefits of a booming wine industry.
A region once known for its leafy tobacco fields is trying for a new image: a mini-Napa in the heart of Southern Maryland.
I got a chance to speak with co-writer Megan Greenwell before she wrote the story and got in my jabs about Maryland shipping laws and how they restrain growth of Maryland wineries. This was mentioned in the article…
And Maryland wineries can’t ship wine out of state, meaning wineries cannot take orders from across the country by phone or the Internet, as they can in most other states.
…but that’s not even the whole story. Maryland wineries can’t ship wine out of state or in state. Boordy, for example, runs a wine club that can ship to Alaska but cannot ship to a Maryland address. A Maryland winery needs to be able to ship wine club shipments to residents. Wine clubs are a cash cow for wineries and provide something of a consistent revenue stream. But, there will be plenty of time to talk about all this madness in January when the state legislature comes back into session.
Link to article
