On wine and free markets

My friends and family in the Volunteer State no doubt dream of free markets, where responsible adults can stroll into a Kroger or Publix and pick up a bottle of red wine for pasta night or perhaps a Riesling… or even one of the many selections from Stonehaus, a local winery in Crossville. Or perhaps even a Duplin wine, from Rose Hill, North Carolina – now one of the largest wine distributors to stores like Wal-Mart in the Southeast (I think) and the largest winery in the South.

But those who claim to know better, namely liquor retailers, have hindered hardworking Tennesseans from picking up a Muscadine or Davenport Red on the way to the bread aisle. Why? As someone who rejects government regulation in the free market, this should be a no-brainer for an overwhelmingly Republican State House and State Senate.

HB0563, by Representative Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol), and its Senate counterpart, SB0322, by Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), would permit, according to its caption, the “sale of wine in retail food stores where sales of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption has been approved but does not allow sale of wine in retail food stores where sales of alcoholic beverages in retail package stores has been approved.”

There has been no action on this legislation since mid-February.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a free-market policy organization in Nashville, notes in its “Legislators’ Guide to the Issues” that allowing the sale of wine in grocery stores would create jobs in Tennessee. They write:

THE PROBLEM: Tennessee has some of the most restrictive wine laws in the nation, resembling Prohibition-era regulations that benefit special interests and ignore consumer demand. Currently, grocery stores are prohibited from selling wine throughout the state. It was only recently that consumers could even have wine shipped directly to them—yet this newfound consumer choice has not resulted in dire consequences, such as job loss due to competition, teenage binge drinking, and unruly citizen behavior, as the opponents of more friendly wine laws have insinuated. Furthermore, none of those same dire predictions will become a reality if wine is allowed to be sold in grocery stores. Thirty-three states already allow grocery stores to sell wine, and these states experience lower wine costs to consumers, fewer youth arrests for driving under the influence and liquor violations, and their liquor store industry continues to thrive.

OUR SOLUTION: The General Assembly should heed the call of the 62 percent of Tennesseans who support putting wine in grocery stores. Not only would this move give consumers more choice, it could eventually allow grocery store owners to create more jobs and increase the pay of their current employees.

RESOURCES: Shaka Mitchell and Justin Owen, “Drunk with Power: How Liquor Lobbyists and Distributors Control Tennessee’s Wine Laws.” Faces of Freedom, Volume I, Issue 1. Tennessee Center for Policy Research. http://tcpr.temp.lexi.net/wp-content/uploads/drunkwithpower.pdf

The Harris Teeter near my house in Arlington, Virginia, has two entire rows of wine to choose from. It’s staggering to stand between the two aisles and fathom the number of options Virginians have in just one store alone.

Now, some people suggest that if wine were to be sold in grocery stores, that young children would flock to Wal-Mart or Kroger and buy bottles and bottles of wine. This is laughably false.

First, children and teens don’t drink wine. If I had consumed alcohol as a youth, I can tell you right now I would have been naive and chosen some silly drink like Natural Ice, commonly known by youngsters as “Natty Ice,” or Pabst Blue Ribbon – it has to be good, right? After all, it got a blue ribbon.

Second, if this theory were true, wouldn’t it be true for beer, as well? So, should we sell beer in grocery stores? Isn’t it the responsibility of the cashier, for fear of penalty, fine, license suspension, or jail, to assess the age of the customer for beer sales currently? What would change with wine sales? Nothing.

Let’s put all this nonsense behind us and allow hardworking, taxpaying Tennesseans the opportunity – no, the right – to buy wine at their neighborhood Publix or wherever grocery store they choose. It’s common sense.

Update: Red, White, & Food tells me there’s another bill, as well. HB0406/SB0316, according to its caption, “creates an additional class of licenses allowing the sale of wine at certain retail food stores; requires person purchasing wine at certain retail food stores to present photo identification.”

The second clause of that caption seems like a no-brainer, right? Don’t we have to present photo ID for other forms of alcohol? What’s different about this? Anyway, there has been no action on either of these bills since mid-February. Contact the sponsors and tell them to get the lead out and move these bills through committee and onto the floor for passage.