Former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who founded a small winery in 2007, last year lobbied the state Legislature to ease direct shipments. Picture Source: Boston Globe

Geoffrey Miller is a wine connoisseur. Unfortunately for him, he’s also a resident of Massachusetts.

For decades, restrictive state laws here have made it nearly impossible to mail-order wine from other states. To get their favorite vintages, Miller and other Massachusetts grape geeks resorted to a variety of tricky workarounds, like shipping them to sympathetic friends in New Hampshire or hiring California “inter-shipping” companies to discreetly repackage the wine.

Such elaborations soon won’t be necessary for Miller and other local oenophiles. Beginning Jan. 1, out-of-state wineries can more easily ship wine directly to Massachusetts consumers after the Legislature broke through years of political wrangling to relax those rules.

“I’ve been writing my state reps and senators for years trying to get this law changed, and they finally did it,” said Miller, 62, adding that the old system was “an absurdity.”

Wine producers must first obtain a license from the state, and so far Massachusetts officials said they have received applications from 91 wineries, mostly on the West Coast.

Shippers also need a license for each truck that will deliver alcohol in Massachusetts. FedEx has licenses for 1,001 vehicles and applied for another 700. The company said it will begin accepting shipments of Massachusetts-bound wine on Feb. 1. United Parcel Service already had 80 such licenses, according to state officials; the company said in a statement it is evaluating the changes in state law. The US Postal Service has so far not applied for the alcohol delivery licenses, state regulators said.

Read Full Story At Source (Boston Globe)