The United States Wine Industry: Restraint of Trade and the Religious Right Available to Purchase

This article examines the interaction between state legislatures and regulators restricting interstate wine shipments. The US wholesale liquor industry, and the religious right, frequently supported the restrictions. Additionally, the “three‐tier marketing system” of wine distribution has limited access to wines. Meanwhile, technological advances have lowered barriers to catalogue and internet wine sales. Using chi‐square tests, this article investigates the restraint of trade between US states and the role played by the wholesale liquor industry and religious right in higher restrictions. Conclusions include (1) the greater the percentage of conservative Protestants within a state, the greater will be the shipping restrictions, and (2) the higher the per capita wine consumption within a state, the lower is the percentage of conservative Protestants.