The US states that are more wine loving, with California in pole position
The American Wine Consumer Coalition defends the rights of wine lovers, if necessary even with attorneys and has now published ratings for the various States.
Read for you by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Houston after Brunello seminary
The list of US States which most love wines resembles the Moody’s ratings for finance: A+, A, A- and so on, right to the bottom with the worst ratings of D, D- and F.
The criteria for the evaluations come from a survey regarding the consumers needs, which in order are; to receive wine from the wineries, no government monopoly, possibility of receiving wine from stores, to be able to buy wine on Sundays, to be able to take ones wine to restaurants, to be able to buy wine in food stores
This list makes one smile in Italy where these things are all permitted, but in the homeland of prohibition, not everything is permitted quite the contrary!
The results of this survey are in part surprising and emphasize that the tendency to prohibit is more widespread than we think. The states which offer more possibilities for wine lovers are California, District of Columbia, Missouri,
Houston - Brunello seminary
Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon and Virginia. Utah and Oklahoma are practically into prohibition. The big Apple obtains a disappointing D+ which puts it in 30th position among the 51american states. So we see that an Italian winery can ship wine t a New York tourist who orders it while over here, while the same tourist cannot have it shipped from a US wholesaler and neither buy it in the supermarket. Another surprise is Las Vegas, gambling Kingdom where everything seems to be permitted, but where it isn’t permitted to take your own wine to the restaurant.
Those who wish to send some prestigious bottles to an American friend must first check, in fact here is the list of states where Italian wineries cannot ship to wine to private buyers Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah. If then the bottle has been bought through a wholesaler then 36 states prohibit shops to ship to private buyers. I am now wondering how wine e-commerce is in the States!