Supreme Court Ends Wine War

The United States Supreme Court ruled today to support interstate wine shipments directly from wineries to consumers. The Court said that state laws banning such shipments are discriminatory and unconstitutional. "In this David versus Goliath battle, the ruling is a triumph for America's family wine farmers," said W. Reed Foster, president of the Coalition for Free Trade and chairman emeritus of Ravenswood Winery. The Coalition for Free Trade is a non-profit organization seeking judicial relief from laws prohibiting direct-to-consumer shipments of wine, and helped coordinate lawsuits in seven states. The Michigan and New York cases were combined and considered by the Supreme Court on December 7, 2004. According to the Coalition for Free Trade, the ruling will help wineries satisfy growing consumer demand for their wines, rather than being shackled by discriminatory state laws that shut them out of important wine markets. David Stout of the New York Times latest ebusiness news