New Illinois Wine Laws June 1

The Chicago Trib reports this morning on the changes to Illinois wine laws that take effect June 1 (which is, ironically, a Sunday.) Chicago has been a popular alternative for wine shipping for many local wine collectors and should remain so if they're ordering direct from the winery. But, if buy wine from an online retailer or other out of state retailer, you're SOL after June 1. (Bad news for Amazon.com if they're still looking to enter the online wine space.)

Out of state wineries can ship to Illinois if they pay a shipping license which might run $150-1000. Case limit is 12 per person "from most wineries" which seems to mean 12 cases from *each* winery -- not a per person limit like we have in Indiana. (The old limit was two cases.) Twelve cases may seem like a lot if you're not retailing, but many serious wine collectors with cellars carefully protect their allocations from small, boutique wineries which often run in the 8-12 case range.

In Indiana, there is a 24-case per person per year limit and out-of-state wineries can ship to Indiana *only* if they're not carried in the state by a wholesale distributor. (BV can't ship to you but a tiny, boutique vineyard can, although that tiny winery has to pay all the fees and licenses to ship legally to Indiana, so they probably can't either.)

More on Illinois from Bill Daley in the Tribune with more at The Stew.