San Francisco, Calif.—The Coalition for Free Trade, established by vintners in 1995 to advocate the repeal of laws prohibiting direct-to-consumer wine shipments, announced it has ended all activities after significant victories for wineries and consumers. “We can celebrate a rare occasion—an industry association opened its doors for business, raised money, got the job done, then turned the lights out,” said W. Reed Foster, president of the CFT, co-founder and emeritus chairman and CEO of Ravenswood Winery.

 

The group focused on DtC litigation and was part of the "three-pronged" offensive that included the political lobbying from Wine Institute, Family Winemkaers of California and WineAmerica as well as a public relations campaign organized by Free the Grapes! to raise consumer awareness.

When CFT launched in the mid-1990s, only 11 “reciprocal” states allowed for interstate, winery-to-consumer shipments. Now, 41 states allow such shipments, and those states represent 89.4% of total U.S. population. Between the late-1990s and 2004, CFT’s work led by the law firm Kirkland & Ellis helped coordinate and advise in lawsuits in seven states. A major victory came in May 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Michigan and New York laws that allowed wineries in those states to ship to consumers but denied the same opportunity to out-of-state wineries violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constituition.

The other major milestone came recently, when Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed the state’s budget bill, which included language to permit winery-to-consumer shipments, ending a nearly decade-long legal fight in that state. “While the percentage of U.S. wine sold directly to consumers is small, the industry’s strategy has helped to create a nearly $2 billion direct-to-consumer sales channel. It would be difficult to overestimate the contributions of CFT. Simply put, the sales channel and the jobs and economic activity it has created would not exist today,” said Dennis Cakebread, CFT board member and vice president responsible for marketing and sales at Cakebread Cellars.