Uncork Kansas wine industry

As reported in Carrie Rengers’ column, state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, recently said she’s willing to explore whether Kansas should allow wine to be shipped into and out of the state.
Under current state wine law (one of the nation’s most restrictive), it’s illegal to ship wine directly to consumers either interstate or within the state, which puts a cork in efforts to develop Kansas’ fledgling wine industry (yes, it exists, and holds promise for both small farmers and tourism).
To its credit, the Kansas Legislature earlier this year passed some new laws to help Kansas’ 10 commercial wineries, including a provision that would allow them to double production.
So why not let them ship their expanded product to expanded markets? Why not let consumers order what they want? The state needs to get out of the way.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

6 Comments

  1. J M Walker
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 5:54 am | Permalink

    What??? The KBOE isn/t having the alchohol removed from the wine?

  2. TRACY
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 6:09 am | Permalink

    It’s OK, JM. They’re only to be used for religious ceremony.

  3. J M Walker
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 6:30 am | Permalink

    Whew . . . for a minute there . . .

  4. Ray Thomas
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 7:50 am | Permalink

    But ONLY for religious ceremonies at schools….the Board of Evangelism has spoken…

  5. TRACY
    Posted December 22, 2005 at 8:51 am | Permalink

    Amen and Merry…Hic.. Christmas.

  6. justoneman
    Posted January 2, 2006 at 4:02 pm | Permalink

    All jokes aside, it is so typically “Kansas” to hold back progress in any form. It is very easy to see why we are the butt of so many jokes. I suppose there are people that think if we produce wine in our state that there will be a sharp increase in winos.