Richard Gorelick of the Baltimore Sun wrote at the beginning of August about Lot18 starting to ship to Marylanders. Save that link, because the discount website normally only allows membership through invitation, but provided direct registration through Gorelick’s article. The membership is free; I haven’t purchased anything, but the website will tell you if a wine (or cheese, or a wine map, which are also sold) is available to ship to your state. (Lot18 itself is not producing the wine, just arranging with wineries with Maryland permits to ship to you.) Most wines (of the, say, dozen on offer) appear to be from the West Coast or imported. The site is pretty informative, too, with reviews, tasting notes, and winery information. That alone is worth signing up, which is free. The article notes that Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws was involved, but I gather it was more of approaching Lot18 to see f they could offer wines in our state.

The wine shipping box from our trip to Oregon

CellarBlog posted about District365 Wine, which builds on the Lot18 concept by ensuring every wine they offer is available in Virginia, Maryland, and the District. Each week, one wine from one winery is featured. Much like Lot18, the sale is only available for a limited time, so you need to either check in weekly or sign up for email notifications.  They are also planning events and to work with Maryland and Virginia wineries – I’m excited to see what District365 will come up with.

(If you get a postcard from California Wine Club, just toss it in the recycling.)

And of course, wineries themselves are applying for permits, despite the steep fee. Chateau Montelena blogged on CAWineVine that its permit has been approved. I was glad to see some larger names look at shipping. Last July’s trip to Oregon wineries was much more pleasant than other out-of-state trips, now that wine pourers didn’t have to go, “Maryland? No.” MBBWL posts on its own website about how to find out which wineries have permits for Maryland. I counted 306 active permits; some of these are Maryland wineries, and some are shipping companies operating on behalf of the wineries.

And if all that wasn’t making it easy enough, MBBWL tweeted earlier today about a U.S. Postal Service initiative to consider delivering wine and beer in standard USPS vehicles. (Dr. Vino

blogged the New York Times article saying the same thing.) Quite frankly, given the battered-up (and even opened!) state in which my mail has periodically arrived, I wouldn’t trust my Chateau Montelena to the postman.

So have you had wine shipped to you yet? Have you had Maryland wine shipped to out-of-staters? What method did you use?

So, my question for you today – when you read Vinotrip, what are you looking for in your local wine coverage? Are you counting on us to identify the best deals in Maryland wine? Are we putting in enough reviews? Sound off in the comments!

My personal take is that we already have enough Wine Spectators in the world, and that our local coverage here on the special interest issues is what makes us unique and valuable for Maryland wine lovers. Do you agree?

Cheers,

-Matt

The hearing to follow will be at 1pm before the House Economic Matters Committee. For more details contact MBBWL Director of Legislative Affairs Jennifer Levy at jlevy@mbbwl.org.

There is time for public comment during hearings so if you’re passionate about it, by all means go and testify before your state lawmakers. Remember, the issue at hand is not your right to getting something shipped to you. You can go on and on about the universe of wines that Maryland wine drinkers do not have access to and the argument will be completely moot. Non-wine enthusiasts do not understand that argument. Non-wine enthusiasts see that your local wine shop carries $100 Cabernet Sauvignon and wonder why winos make such a fuss about “no, not that $100 Cabernet, this other $100 Cabernet is the one I want.” The legislators have instead made it an issue about underage drinking, so be prepared to address that.

Hearing is at 1:15
MD Senate Education Health and Environmental Affairs Committee
2 West, Miller Senate Building
11 Bladen St
Annapolis, MD 21401
Map

Full hearing schedule slate can be found on the MD legislature website.

If you’re into Facebook, you can join the cause.

Previous Vinotrip coverage here

Senator Jamie Raskin, coming out of District 20 (the Fightin’ Twentieth!) has introduced what looks to be the same bill that was shot down in 2008. SB-338 (here is last year’s: SB-616) went through the first reading in the Health and Environmental Affairs committee on Jan 29.

Short synopsis – Us Marylanders are trying to pick up the same privilege that Virginians and Washingtonians enjoy: that of having wine shipped to our door.

Publicly, the argument against the bill is hinged on control. People fear that underage kids will order liquor over the Internet and have it delivered to them. Opponents say that the bill does not provide the State of Maryland with enough power to discipline retailers who ship to minors. This, of course, is just just fear mongering and FUD. I don’t have stats on it but I haven’t heard any significant spike of cases in Virginia where minors were getting drunk off of wine purchased over the Internet. Further, both FedEx and UPS require adult signatures when delivering shipments of wine, so at some point some adult will have to take delivery, then pass the wine to the minors.

Privately, the liquor distributors contribute a lot of money toward having these sorts of bills stamped out. They control the pricing of liquor in this state, and they intend to keep it that way. There is no logical argument against this and the only response is to find out how your local legislator feels about it and vote accordingly.

Info page on the bill
Unofficial copy of the bill
Vinotrip coverage of last year’s HB-1260 and the Wine Shipping fiasco: the intro, the fight, the defeat, and the post-mortem from the opposition.