If there’s a reasonable explaination why wine shouldn’t be sold in grocery stores in Tennessee, you likely won’t find it on local blogs today. Why would legislators not want more sales competition in a state so dependent on sales tax revenues?

• FOR: The state’s retailers generate the largest chunk of state revenue through sales taxes. They get competition and capitalism, and that’s why they want to see wine sold in grocery stores. Tennessee’s winegrowers would probably appreciate a more business friendly environment.
• AGAINST: The liquor lobby opposes wine sales in grocery stores because if teens see wine, they might want to drink and drive. I think that’s the best argument to date to ban beer sales in gas stations and grocery stores, but what teen is going to pony up $12 for a bottle of Merlot over a cheap six pack of Budweiser?

Here are a few other local bloggers voicing support for wine sales in Tennessee grocery stores. The concerted focus is an effort by Atkinson Public Relations through their Red White and Food campaign.

Newscoma:

I honestly don’t know why the selling of wine is a big deal in the first place. It’s not like winos are going to bring in axes and start trashing the joint. Most people are responsible. I’m not but there are some out there that are. The epic fail for where I am is that the grocery store in the town I live in doesn’t even carry beer. Amazing.

Silence Isn’t Golden:

One of the main arguments against allowing wine to be sold in the grocery stores is that it will lead to more teen drinking. Even though beer is already readily available in just about every grocery and convenience store in the state, somehow allowing those same stores to sell a more expensive form of alcohol that you can’t buy in a 24-pack case will mean that the teenagers will turn away from cheap beer in favor of wine. The liquor lobby has even created a front website, “Stop Teen Drinking Tennessee” as a way to emotionally appeal to Tennessee voters while hiding their true agenda, retaining the traditional privileges of package stores.

Cabbage Babble:

Nashville is a wet town. Period. The honky tonks are open from 10am to 3am, booze flowing freely during all those hours. However, the lack of wine at a grocery store stinks. It doesn’t make sense. I should be able to buy a cheap bottle of wine to go with dinner at the grocery store, and forgo having to visit another store entirely. If I want a nice bottle of wine or suggestions, there’s always retailers like Woodland Wine Merchant, who have expertise and a larger variety than most supermarkets would have.

Sean Braisted:

Why support wine in grocery stores? Well, for starters we now have a Trader Joe’s, so its time to see that Two Buck Chuck invade Nashville (or other lower priced wines with perhaps a slightly better flavor). In addition, it would make it easier on parents who do their grocery shopping with the little ones in tow, not to have to make a separate stop at a liquor store their kids aren’t legally allowed in to.

AuntB:

2. Tennessee wines. We have some really nice wines that are locally produced. Why shouldn’t those wines be allowed to reach as wide an audience as possible?

Nashvillest:

We admit it, we felt the sting of Tennessee’s current alcohol legislation a little harsher than usual when Trader Joe’s opened across the street from the Nashvillest HQ, painfully vacant of that 8th-wonder-of-the-world, Two Buck Chuck, and we know that many of our readers felt the same bitter pain.