This is part one of an ongoing series related to direct-to-consumer wine shipping. If you are in the least interested in wine, especially wine that you read about but can't find in your local wine shop, this information should be interesting -- or at least important -- to you.

A few weeks ago, Eric Asimov posted about his visit to Smith-Madrone, way up in Napa's Spring Mountain; this is the same Smith-Madrone that Jay McInerney wrote about in his latest collection of wine essays, "A Hedonist in the Cellar," which I read earlier in the year. McInerney profiles the brothers Smith, their piliferous aspect, and (most importantly) their small production Riesling.

I've been trying to get my hands on a bottle of their Riesling since I read McInerney's book, and this want intensified after I came across Asimov's column. The problem with finding a bottle of a popular California wine of which only 712 cases were made is that very little of it is shipped here. And by "little," I mean, "none." Worse, one is presented with the following when attempting to buy a bottle from their website:

We are happy to fulfill orders where we can. Unfortunately, we cannot ship to the state of Massachusetts under any circumstances.

Understanding the above restriction requires an understanding of the archaic but slowly improving wine distribution system in this country, as well as the even more archaic and murky Massachusetts laws enacted to protect it. Known within the industry as simply "the three-tier system," it was born from the repeal of Prohibition, and is the reason why wineries, both in the U.S. and abroad, have trouble getting their wines to markets outside their own states.

Essentially, the three-tier system means that producers or importers of alcoholic beverages may sell only to wholesale distributors, who in turn may only sell to either "on-premise" (restaurants) or "off-premise" (wine shops) retailers. Immediately follwing Repeal, this system was devised to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors, to prevent the distribution of alcohol wihtin "dry" communities, and to allow state and local authorities to collect taxes prescribed to the sale of alcohol. Every state has various exceptions and exclusions to this system, most notably brewpubs and winery tasting rooms that can sell their product out of their own front door.

The loser in all of this is the consumer, and not only because the added expense of the three-tier system is responsible for up to 30% of a wine's retail price for small wineries. More importantly, state laws had been drawn up to protect the interests of in-state distributors and local wineries, prohibiting the direct sale of out of state wines to consumers outside the distributor system.

And then the Internet came around and screwed everything up. In 2005, The Supreme Court ruled in Granholm v. Heald that discriminatory laws against interstate wine shipments when no such laws apply to in-state wineries are unconstitutional. Since then, a dramatic change in wine shipping laws has swept across the country.

So does Massachusetts allow direct-to-consumer wine shipping? The answer is a decided "sort of." Since Granholm, the laws have been relaxed somewhat. But California wineries still have trouble shipping to Massachusetts, and many, like Smith-Madrone, won't ship here at all. The reason is not because it is illegal to ship to us wine lovers here in Mass, but that it is cost-prohibitive for out of state wineries to do so. It is legislation that provides prevention without prohibition, which I'll discuss in the near future. Until then, feel free to read up on the grassroots effort to change the wine industry.

And if you happen to have a bottle of Smith-Madrone lying around that you're not going to drink, please let me know.