Winecast 77: Jeff Carroll and buying wine over the Internet

It should be easier to get wine delivered locally, but buying wine over the Internet? It’s still a ways off

Jeff Carroll is one of the most knowledgeable people in the United States when it comes to buying wine over the Internet — whether directly from the winery, from a local retailer or service like Drizly, or from an out-of-state retailer or Amazon.

And he says the past several years, including many changes during the pandemic, have made it much easier for us to buy wine from wineries and local retailers. The third choice, which is what many of us are waiting for?

Not so much.

“There are laws that are very specific to alcohol, and it’s still a very highly regulated industry,” he says. “Specifically to Amazon, you’ll remember they used to have their out of state wine program. .. but they shut that down when they bought Whole Foods. There can be complexities, and it can get messy.”

And, he adds, don’t forget the opposition from various parts of the three-tier system that don’t want us to be able to do that.

The podcast is 17 minutes long and takes up 11 megabytes. Listen or download here. Sound quality is excellent.