Contraband Grapes

Evidently, it is illegal to ship wine in the states.

Since the prohibition repeal 70 years ago, each state has developed its own system of laws surrounding sale, trade and consumption of alcohol. Well I knew that. But that includes wine. I guess I just always looked at wine as this innocent little drink from an elegant bottle. Not so. Wine is just as potentially devistating as Jose Cuervo, just as conceivably illicit as a Jack and Coke.

Well, there are some states with less stringent laws on the buying and selling of wine across borders. California and Idaho are two of them, which bodes well for a transaction to hopefully be taking place in my near future with a little Californian I know. However, there are a few states that maintain tighter controls on the grapey substance. For these states there is an organization called Free the Grapes!. Their website states that "Free the Grapes! is a national, grassroots coalition of consumers and wineries who seek to remove restrictions in 24 states that still prohibit consumers from purchasing wines directly from out-of-state wineries." Check out the website for a picture of the most pissed off grape ever.

I wonder...That grape is pissed off because it can't be sold across state borders and consumed without the aid of a corporation of sorts. Don't you think grapes would be more pissed off about being viciously ripped from the home of their vines, carelessly tossed into ugly wicker baskets, painfully crushed and stomped, combined with foreign ingredients, fermented, bottled and placed on a shelf? I think that would do it for me. Maybe it's pissed because it went through all that for nothing.

Either way, the picture is cool. And the grape is wearing shackles. I think grapes should wear shakles more frequently.