Proposed Minnesota Bill Would Legalize the Selling of Wine in Grocery Stores

In Minnesota you are unable to purchase wine at grocery stores. With current liquor laws, grocers are unable to sell wine. This hurts consumers and business owners. The Wine with Dinner bill would allow wine to be sold in grocery stores in Minnesota.

Currently, Minnesota liquor stores have a monopoly on wine sales. Liquor stores receive a small amount of profit from wine sales, compared to their profit from beer and liquor sales. So allowing grocery stores to sell wine would hardly put liquor stores at risk.

Opponents to making wine more available claim it would pose a risk to public safety, but data shows this is not true. Studies show that states allowing the sale of wine in grocery stores do not experience fewer problems with underage drinking.

Data also shows that wine consumption is not much more in states that allow wine sales in grocery stores. Wine is probably less likely to be involved in activities like binge drinking and alcohol poisoning than hard liquor or beer.

The potential for underage alcohol consumption or alcohol abuse is not the issue here; it's the denial of the free market to operate. There is no sociological value in restricting the purchase of wine, and it becomes entirely about who is and is not allowed to profit from the sales.

Limiting the sale of wine decreases competition in pricing, costing consumers over $166,000 so far this year. The health benefits of wine, along with demand from consumers for better access to wine purchases, make the current laws unnecessarily restrictive. Wine is a logical pairing with food, so its availability in grocery stores makes sense.

Additionally, loosening restrictions on wine sales will benefit farmers and our economy. The Wine with Dinner bill is supported by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council.

The most recent move toward allowing consumers in Minnesota to purchase wine at grocery stores was on March 13, when the issue went before the House Commerce Committee.

At present , 33 states allow grocery stores to sell wine, with no threat to municipal and private liquor stores. The heavy-handed regulation of where it can be sold serves only to profit the liquor industry and hurt consumers in terms of lack of freedom and higher prices.

Allowing wine to be sold in grocery stores would increase convenience for consumers, and by allowing competition to take place it would benefit the economy. The potential to benefit consumers and businesses makes it a logical move for Minnesota.