A constitutional right to order wine? Charlotte aficionados go to court.
A new lawsuit claims North Carolinians have a constitutional right to have wine delivered to their homes from out-of-state retailers, taking on a longstanding state alcohol law that restricts certain shipments.
Three Charlotte wine lovers and a Florida wine seller sued North Carolina officials on Tuesday for the right to have rare out-of-state vintages and other wines shipped to their homes.
Both North and South Carolina — as well as most other states — allow direct shipments to consumers from out-of-state wineries, but not from out-of-state wine retailers, according to data from Wine Spectator magazine.
In the lawsuit filed in Charlotte’s U.S. District Court, residents Bob Kunkle and Mike and Lila Rash contend North Carolina’s ban on out-of-state retailers delivering wine to N.C. consumers violates their constitutional rights and privileges.
They want a federal judge to declare the state’s law unconstitutional “as a violation of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.”
N.C. law, they contend, is a “statutory scheme” that “violates the Commerce Clause because it discriminates against wine retailers located outside North Carolina who are engaged in interstate commerce. Their lawyer argues that state law effectively “gives economic protection to in-state businesses.”
According to the lawsuit, some out-of-state wine retailers sell wines that Kunkle and the Rashes can’t find at N.C. retailers, “including rare, unusual, older vintage and limited-supply wines.”
B-21 Wines Inc. of Tarpon Springs, Fla., joined the residents in suing A.D. “Zander” Guy, chair of the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, and N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein. Stein’s office told the Observer Wednesday officials are reviewing the lawsuit.
Charlotte lawyer William Trosch and three lawyers from an Indianapolis, Ind., law firm are representing the residents.
Some North Carolina lawmakers want to revamp parts of the state’s liquor laws. A bill is currently being studied that would “close government-run ABC stores and allow privately owned stores to take over liquor sales,” the (Raleigh) News & Observer reported last month.
In one recent change to alcohol laws in North Carolina, state lawmakers passed the “brunch bill” in 2017, which allows cities and counties to permit via local ordinances Sunday alcohol sales at 10 a.m. Before, the law required alcohol could not be sold before noon, the Observer has previously reported.
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 2:29 PM.