Or drink some chilled white wine. Anecdotally, I can tell you it’s what many folks are drinking as this summer shatters heat records across the country. Matt and I have Keswick Vineyards Viognier (VA) in the fridge right now. Friends served Basignani’s Elena the other evening. Then again, we also have a bottle of Serpent Ridge Basilisk (a red blend) open on our shelf.

At one point, I thought weather affected wine in two ways: the whole growing-season thing, which obviously depends on the right amount of rain, soil, humidity, sun, clouds, cool temperatures, warm temperatures, and midnight voodoo; and the controversy over sticking to chilled whites versus indulging in reds every so often (with, possibly, a heretical ice cube). Many folks on the local wine blog  circuit mentioned the latter, saying the Wine Bloggers’ Conference last month in Charlottesville, Virginia was too hot to really enjoy the red wines available.

But it turns out weather affects oenophiles in other ways, too:

First, now that we have our beloved shipping law passed, it appears we’ll have to wait until fall to get wine shipped. It makes total sense to me now, and I wouldn’t have left wine in a hot trunk, and our wines are kept in the driest, coolest corner of our house. But I never thought about wine cooking on its way to me: from winery to shipping center, in planes or trucks, and from shipping center to my house. Dr. Vino has thoughtfully researched more about this, and even suggests a label addition to show temperature exposures.

Second, if you’re at all as pale as I am (my students once asked if I was a vampire), bottoms up! The Terroirist reports a study finding that “flavonoids in grapes can stop the chemical reactions that cause skin cells to die”.

Also, the Wine Curmudgeon suggests several ways to stay cool using wine.  I’m happy to report that I’ve tested all of them (someone had to do it!) and can recommend all but the first one. Ice your wine if you want to – I just don’t care for the dilution that comes as the wine melts; I don’t even ice my lemonade. If I don’t do it, I can’t really recommend it myself.

And another reason to detest the season’s stink bugs: they don’t just feed on grapes, but they… um… flavor the wine. The Washington Post’s Darryl Fears writes about this in the context of a search for a predator for the little… ahem… buggers (farmers and grape growers are mentioned on the second page). To do my journalistic best and present the other side of the debate, WMAZ’s Cody Rhodes paraphrases University of Maryland‘s Joe Fiola as saying stink bugs “don’t [a]ffect the taste or smell of wine”.

Have you noticed a stinky odor to wine – or had your shipped wine cooked? How are you enjoying your wine this summer?

You may wonder why a bill on wine shipping is in the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee instead of something more appropriate like Budget and Taxation. It’s because opponents of direct wine shipping have made this a heath issue by calling out concerns about underage drinking.

Her chief concern, [Conway] said, is that underage drinkers will tap the Internet for wine. There’s no way, she said, to force delivery agencies, whether the U.S. Postal Service or a private carrier, to verify the age of the person accepting a package.

I’d go into this, but I’d probably burn the blog down in anger before I finished the post. Instead, please enjoy this analysis from Dave McIntyre’s WneLine.

The U.S. Postal Service won’t ship alcoholic beverages, period. And UPS and FedEx are very conscientious about not delivering alcoholic beverages without an adult signature.

He goes on, and it is worth clicking through to the post.

Link to Baltimore Sun article.

Delegates Krysiak, Hucker, Ali, Anderson, Aumann, Barnes, Bartlett, Benson, Bobo, Bohanan, Cane, Cardin, Carr, G. Clagett, Conaway, Conway, Costa, Dumais, Dwyer, Elliott, Elmore, Feldman, Frank, Frick, Frush, Gaines, George, Gilchrist, Glenn, Gutierrez, Haddaway, Hecht, Heller, Holmes, Howard, Hubbard, Ivey, Jennings, Kach, Kaiser, Kipke, Kramer, Krebs, Kullen, Lafferty, Lee, Levi, Malone, Manno, McComas, McConkey, McIntosh, Mizeur, Montgomery, Morhaim, Nathan-Pulliam, Niemann, Pena-Melnyk, Pendergrass, Proctor, Ramirez, Reznik, Rice, Robinson, Rosenberg, Ross, Schuh, Shank, Shewell, Simmons, Smigiel, Stein, Stocksdale, Stull, Tarrant, F. Turner, Valderrama, Vallario, Waldstreicher, and Weir

Coverage of the MBBWL press conference yesterday was provided by Matt over at Free State Wine. The major talking points were addressed, as expected.

Part of today’s press conference sought to address retail and restaurant concerns about the impact of shipping wine on their sales. Reports from other states show that direct shipments have no negative effects…

More on all this next week, as well as some info on other wine related bills in the legislature this session.

The bill would allow both wineries and retailers to ship up to 24 cases of wine to a Maryland resident per year and follows the protocols existing in other states for age verification and tax collection. There are roughly 6,500 wineries in the US. Only about 15% of these wineries can currently sell their product to Marylanders. Should the legislation become law, the estimated economic benefit to Maryland would be $1.5 million per fiscal year, largely from the collection of Maryland sales and excise taxes.

Much more wine shipping coverage coming, as well as coverage on other wine related bills facing the legislature this session.

I got a lump of coal in my decanter this year. Vinfolio, my former employer and current wine retailer of choice, has stopped shipping wine to Virginia. Word is that previously un-enforcable tax laws and laws governing third-party shippers are suddenly getting lots of attention. Many retailers who wish to play by the rules are deciding it is easier to just not play at all.

So this leaves Washington DC as a sixty square mile oasis into which wine may be shipped. Wine enthusiasts located in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania can flock to the nation’s capital for their vino.

But wait! There is hope! A few articles went around in November about retailers that are lining up on the side of direct wine shipping to Maryland. WJZ.com gets the link.

“As a store owner that specializes in Maryland produced wines, I understand the problems facing the survival and growth of our state’s wine industry,” Birney said. “The distributor side of (Maryland’s) three-tier system does not care about our local wineries and small businesses.”

Direct shipping to Maryland residents will not hurt the local wine shops. Instead, as Maryland residents suddenly get access to a world of wine that was previously unavailable, enthusiasm for wine will increase, helping sales at the shops. Further, allowing Maryland wineries to ship to residents located in their own state will seriously help local wineries and agriculture as well as promote interest in Maryland wine. It is an economic win on all sides.

There are also a few good quotes from Baltimore Delegate Carolyn Krysiak, who you may remember opposed this legislation in 2008. Krysiak now supports direct wine shipping into Maryland and plans to so-sponsor a bill in the 2010 session.

“We encouraged wineries to take a risk and start their businesses and now we’re throwing roadblocks in front of them,” Krysiak said. “I feel some sense of obligation to people who took this gamble in our state.”

Well, good. Score one for the good guys.

Again, leading the charge this year will be the good people at the Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws. Shoot them an email (or a donation) of support and don’t forget to lobby your local Maryland senators and delegates. Legislative session starts in January and I’ll keep posting about updates as they happen.

HB-1262 was killed in committee last night. No wine shipping to Maryland for at least another year, probably more.

If you’re passionate about this issue, please follow up with the members of the Maryland House of Delegates Economic Matters Committee Write them a letter, call their office, or send an email and ask why they voted the way they did. You’ll probably receive a canned response similar to this one we all received last year. Let me know if you get anything more substantive. Vote accordingly when November rolls around.

I’d write more about this, but the issue has run its course and even I am sick of hearing my rambling about it. I’ve posted plenty about Maryland wine shipping and the backwards-thinking of the current wine shipping laws. Read the archives if you want more, pop a bottle of Syrah if you want to forget.