Maryland, like most other states, has some arcane laws still on the books (cf. Virginia’s code outlawing the mixing of wine or beer with spirits), but none irks area oenophiles more than the one that prohibits the shipping of wine into or out of the state. The Post reports today that a bill proposed by two Montgomery County legislators would finally change all that.

The Maryland legislature’s House Economic Matters Committee met yesterday to hear testimony for and against such a change in the law. Most arguments for allowing wine shipments focused on the idea that it’s a silly, Prohibition-era law that no longer makes any sense. Most arguments against the change came from local Maryland distributors and retailers, who feared losing money should their ability to be the only ones to sell wine in the state suddenly disappear.

Indeed, we’ve known some Maryland residents who work here in D.C., where it is legal to order wine and have it shipped to you, who have had California wine delivered to their offices and then carried it home on Metro. Virginia also allows wine shipping.

Seems like a no-brainer to us. Competition is the whole point of capitalism, and the fact that nearby Virginia and D.C. already made the shipping of wine legal makes the argument to protect local Maryland distributors sound all the more ridiculous.

Photo by justinramsdell