Direct wine shipment?

Regarding the article, “Let it flow…” (BDN, Feb. 18-19).

I’m glad the state of Maine is protecting all of us from easy acquisition of wine from out of state by our underage drinkers. It is a standard all states should follow. In my 70-plus years of occasional wine sipping, I have found a few very good wines that are not overly priced: Greek, Spanish, French and, more recently, a few Australian. Very few of these wines are available in Maine.

A few years ago, in Florida, I found a small winery that offered excellent red for $8 a bottle (red connoisseurs, of course, would not try any wine less than $40 a bottle). They ship to any state that permits it to do so.

An old school friend in Connecticut – for a bottle or two fee – is happy to accept delivery for me of a case or two a year. Either I drive to Connecticut to pick it up or he drives to Maine to deliver it.

If Maine were to allow direct shipment of this wine from Florida, our reason to visit each other’s family once a year would no longer be valid. I would ask, nay, beg, the powers in Augusta to continue to prevent direct wine shipment from out of state.

Not only would it remove a reason to continue a personal friendship, but it just might open the door for other state-restricted measures that are so flagrantly flaunted by other New England states which allow such debauchery as public gambling, drinking, dancing, discos, church supper and beano.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention lottery and racetracks.

Vince Coupal

Lubec