There was an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about a Texas court ruling about wine shipments. The good news that the ruling would mean that wine retailers can make direct shipments to consumers in Texas. The bad news is, well, read the first couple of paragraphs:
A federal judge this week struck down Texas laws barring out-of-state retailers from shipping wine directly to Texas consumers, which may pose repercussions for how alcohol is sold across the U.S.
The judge, however, also dealt a blow to backers of direct-to-consumer shipping, ruling Texas could require out-of-state wine retailers to buy their wine from Texas wholesalers. That makes the practical implications of the verdict unclear. The ruling would let consumers order wine on the Internet, for instance. But it isn't clear that out-of-state retailers would go to the ...
The article goes on (reasonably) to point out it's not clear what out-of-state retailer would go to the trouble of buying from a Texas distributor in order to ship it back to Texas. I haven't posted a link because a subscription is required; those who have subscriptions or want one can go to http://online.wsj.com/public/us and find the full article easily by searching on "Texas wine".