Tennessee Wine lovers is a network site for Tennessee Consumers for Fair Wine Laws. We want access to the tens of thousands of wines not available in the state and at reasonable prices as they are in other states who have changed their legislation to promote more competitive pricing.

In fact a Trade Commission Report in July 2003 concluded that in states that allowed direct shipping of wine, consumers paid on the average 21% less for wine. We have found differences of up to 40% more for wine in Tennessee compared to some discount out-of-state wine retailers selling by e-commerce.

Tennessee laws essentially make any sort of wine collecting or enjoyment of vintage wines illegal. Thirty-five states have some sort of direct shipping of wine from out-of-state wine retailers but Tennessee is one of the fifteen states in which a consumer cannot order wine from an out-of-state retail store. We can order wine now (since July 2009) from out-of-state wineries if they purchase a shipping permit from the state ($300 application fee and $150 annual fee plus a bond for the Tennessee Revenue Department). Shipping into the

state without a shipping permit (eg. from specialty wine retailers) is a felony punishable by 1-2 years in jail. Neighboring states North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Missouri can have wine shipped into the state to consumers but Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky cannot.

Thirty-three states sell wine in grocery stores, including six of Tennessee's border states Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas. We support the sale of wine in grocery stores because the competition with other retail wines sales results in lower prices to consumers as well as an increase in the number of wine varieties and brands available. Our Tennessee legislators tabled a wine-sales-in-grocery-stores bill in June 2009 in spite of the fact that polls showed over 70% of the population in favor of such sales.