Winebits 805: Ken Forrester, alcohol to go, New York

This week’s wine news: Ken Forrester, one of the WC’s favorites, plus alcohol to go is here to stay and no wine for New York groceries

• Drink chenin: South Africa’s Ken Forrester, who makes some of the world’s best chenin blanc (and, yes that includes this region) will be in the U.S. this summer. Hopefully, as he puts it in this interview, he can get Americans to drink more chenin blanc. This is something the WC has long advocated, and my lamentations in not being able to find the Forrester chenin in Dallas have been repeated on the blog all too frequently. So listen up, second-tier: Ken Forrester chenin. Please?

• Booze to go: Nation’s Restaurant News is calling alcohol to go “the most significant change to state alcohol laws since the end of the Prohibition in 1933” – and that it’s not going away any time soon. I recorded a podcast with Jeff Carroll, one of the country’s leading authorities on the subject, and it should be posted sooner rather than later, and he is equally as optimistic about the future of local wine, beer, and spirits delivery. The magazine calls the trend a critical lifeline for restaurants, especially during the pandemic, and sees it only growing. Some 34 states have legalized it in one form or another; given the way the alcohol regulation system works in the U.S., that’s an amazing number.

• Not in New York: The state’s legislature, as predicted here, refused to let supermarkets sell wine in the session just ended. New York is the largest state in the country without grocery wine sales, a law that dates to the end of Prohibition. However, liquor stores will be able to stay open until 10 p.m. on Sundays, which made the WC jealous. Liquor stores in Texas, by state law, are closed on Sunday. To be honest, I’d almost rather have Sunday liquor store hours than supermarket wine sales.