Nearly 20 years after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized interstate winery shipping in Granholm v. Heald, Mississippi is making interstate winery shipping available to its residents.

Mississippi has not exactly been at the vanguard of the liquor industry. Spirits were illegal in Mississippi until 1966, thirty-three years after Prohibition ended. It was also the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment, which created Prohibition.

Although the state has imposed strict controls, its citizens have shown a yearning for freedom.

Up until this law’s effective date, July 1, 2025, consumer choice is and was limited to what Mississippi wholesalers decided it wanted to sell in its portfolio. Although I am sure it is hard to believe, Mississippi wholesalers were not exactly taking surveys of Mississippi residents asking them for their personal preferences.

With no outlet for choice, the consumer selection pretty much sucked in Mississippi. However, like any individual, Mississippi residents yearned for more freedom and consumer choice.

They decided to enter into legal agreements with out-of-state retailers to buy the wine not available to their own market. In other words, they sought out the wine their wholesaler network wouldn’t provide in-state. Rare bottles, imported wines, Napa Valley wines commonly available in other states, and limited release products.

But then Attorney General Jimmy Hood who was running for Governor decided to go after these retailers for what he claimed was illegal shipping. The retailers prevailed at the first level but lost on appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Even though the sale was agreed to out-of-state and the consumers wanted to take the risk of breaking their state’s law, AG Hood went after the retailers instead of his own in-state consumers. With the retailers that lost in this case shut off from selling to Mississippi residents, the wine wholesalers competitive moat became larger, and with it, a near guarantee of little to no consumer choice.

It reminds me of going to a restaurant with undercooked pasta one time late at night, as I commented that the pasta was undercooked, I was told by the surly manager,” if you don’t like don’t eat it then.” Well, I left and with no other place open for late night munchies, I was left without a choice for a night, but I could wake up the next day to numerous choices. Mississippi residents are not so fortunate.

But now the game has shifted to consumer choice and freedom. The economic protectionism that allowed the wholesalers to stranglehold choice has cracked a bit. And the great wines throughout the country will be available to Mississippi residents. But there is still a ways to go to ensure economic freedom and consumer choice.

I just wish my old comrade Joel Howell, who fought for wine consumer choice and freedom in Mississippi was around to see this day. RIP Joel, hope your family orders some wine in your memory.