Let mail-order wine flow more freely in Michigan

There's way too much concern in Lansing over a little cabernet from California.

A couple of bills making their way through the state House and Senate this summer would ban all mail-order sales to Michigan residents from wineries inside and outside the state.

The legislation is an overreaction to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires Michigan to treat all wineries the same. The state has required that out-of-state wineries sell their products through wholesalers; there's no such rule for Michigan wineries.

So, instead of allowing all wineries to ship bottles of their particular pinot directly to customers, these legislative proposals would ban all mail-order merlot.

That would hurt Michigan wineries as much as it would California's Napa Valley.

The bills' backers tout the silly notions that the state may be losing out on tax revenues from mail- order sales, and that kids will be pawing through packages on porches, looking for that mail-order hooch.

The mail-order sales tax question is an issue much bigger than the tastes of a few wine fanciers. Lawmakers should deal with that problem for all mailed merchandise.

And, frankly, we don't see occasional boxes of fine, bottled wine threatening the sobriety of today's youth.

Wine lovers should have as equal access - by mail or otherwise - to that sassy chardonnay from a tiny California vineyard as they do the fruity tones of West Michigan's finest vintners.

Legislators should reject these wine-by-mail bans.

And try something that doesn't taste so bitter.