PHOENIX — A bill signed into law will allow Arizonans to order wine by phone or online and have it delivered directly to their homes or businesses.
The bill, pushed by the California-based group Free the Grapes, was sponsored by a dozen members of the Legislature. Another 21 members listed themselves as co-sponsors. Support came from both parties.
According to the Wine Institute, a public-policy arm of California winemakers that co-founded Free the Grapes, Arizona was one of a handful of states that did not allow direct shipping from most out-of-state wineries.
The bill says the liquor department must begin issuing direct shipment licenses to wineries by Jan. 1. Wineries will need to apply for and receive that license to ship to Arizona. Shipping wine into the state without a license is a Class 2 misdemeanor under the law.
Wineries located within the state will have the right to directly ship under their existing farm winery license. The bill does limit the amount of cases a consumer can have delivered from any single winery.
Gov. Doug Ducey signed the bill on Wednesday.
The newly signed statute removes restrictions in wine shipping that had bewildered and frustrated Arizona consumers who wanted to get unique wines made by out-of-state producers.
Previously, customers in Arizona could only directly order wines from small wineries, defined in statute as those that made 20,000 gallons a year or less. The largest Arizona wineries, Page Springs Cellars and Arizona Stronghold, are about that size.
More than 400 wineries in other states also met the criteria, the Wine Institute said, and applied for the direct-shipping license required to ship directly to homes in the state.
That application will need to be updated to conform with the new law, which will go into effect 90 days after the end of the ongoing 2016 legislative session. The current fee for that license is $25. A spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Liquor said in an email Friday that the fees for the new application were under discussion.
For larger wineries, the previous statutes required that the wine pass through two steps — a distributor and a retailer — before it reached the consumer. The transaction was taxed at each step.
Most wineries simply refused to deliver to Arizona, rather than go through those steps.
One California winery, Peter Michael Winery in Calistoga, sent an Arizona customer an email this month outlining the shipping options. The customer was told to pick a designated day, one of four in April and May. Three to five days after shipping, the wine would end up at a retail shop in Mesa, the email said. From there, it could be delivered to a home by a delivery company, or remain at the store for the customer to retrieve it.
Steven Woodworth, the Scottsdale man who shared the email with the Arizona Republic, praised the bill’s signing.
“It’s going to make it far less disruptive than it has been,” Woodworth said. “It makes life a whole lot easier and puts everyone on the same playing field.”
Ducey, during his 2014 campaign, told the Republic he was in favor of preserving the three-tier system. But in his 2016 State of the State address, he again stressed the need to relax regulations on businesses.
