Virginia Court of Appeals rules ABC stores can exclude out-of-state wine producers.

Byline: Alan Cooper

Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control stores can once again sell wine produced at Virginia wineries and exclude wine from out-of-state producers, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week.

The court also ruled that Virginia can provide an exception to the general rule barring direct importation of alcohol so that an individual can carry into Virginia no more than a gallon of alcoholic beverages for personal consumption.

The decision perhaps ends tortuous litigation sidetracked at various points by the U.S. Supreme Court decision last year in Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 60, an earlier 4th Circuit decision involving North Carolina's regulation of alcohol, and legislation from the Virginia General Assembly.

The legislative and judicial activity was aimed at balancing conflicts between the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which generally bars one state from promoting its economic interest at the expense of others, and the 21st Amendment, which gives individual states broad authority to regulate alcohol within their borders.

Terri Cofer Beirne, a lobbyist for the Virginia Vineyards Association, called the litigation "truly a constitutional quandary."

The plaintiffs sought to win approval for the direct shipment of wine to consumers with no state restrictions. They fell well short of that goal, but Daniel M. Ortiz, the University of Virginia law professor who represented the plaintiffs, said, "It's better than it was before," with direct shipments now allowed with some restrictions.