"This is the best day for wine-lovers since the invention of the corkscrew". That is the somewhat bubbly view of Clint Bolick, one of the successful lawyers in a ruling this week from the Supreme Court, which by a 5-4 majority freed up wine sales in New York and Michigan. But he has a point. The court ruled that states which allow their residents to buy wine directly from in-state producers cannot stop them buying wine directly from sellers from other states. The decision is a victory for small vineyards, which currently struggle to compete with the "three-tier system" that dominates the market: big wine-makers sell to big wholesalers who then supply the retail outlets. According to Jeremy Benson, a wine-consultant in California, the top 50 of America's 3,500 wineries are responsible for 87% of the country's sales.
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