In Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and Delaware, bills allowing out-of-state wineries to distribute directly to customers are being considered since they are the last states in the Union to prohibit the practice, including Utah.
Direct-to-consumer wines increased by 15 percent in 2017 in volume and value, with sales reaching to 5.8 million cases worth about $2.7 billion. As a business strategy, wineries prefer direct-to-consumer sales since retailers and distributors are increasingly consolidating.
The U.S Supreme Court’s Granholm v. Heald decision to allow direct-to-consumer wine shipping has provided the platform to facilitate in-state direct-to-consumer wine shipments which includes the inability to prohibit direct-to-consumer wine shipments from out-of-state wineries.
Source: WineBusiness June 2018