Wine online

UNTIL THIS May, Massachusetts wine lovers could only dream of a day when a rare Pinot Noir from Oregon, a choice Cabernet from California, or a prized Riesling from New York could be routinely delivered to their doorstep, direct from the winery. But the Supreme Court in May told states they have to change laws that prohibits these sales. Local oenophiles need to tell their legislators the time has come to let the wines in.

The Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure is working on a bill now, but it is hearing from liquor store owners and wholesalers who don't want competition from the likes of the Joseph Phelps Backus Cabernet or the Ridge Buchignani Zinfandel, two wines from California not available in Massachusetts liquor stores -- even though they can be ordered from the winery in the 30 states allowing direct sales.

The message to the Legislature ought to be simple and direct: If consumers can buy books, clothing, fruit, and all manner of things over the Internet and by mail, they ought to be able to buy wine. It's true, alcoholic beverages are subject to special regulation dating to the end of Prohibition (no purchase by minors being the chief one), but a bill by state Senator Robert O'Leary of Barnstable copes with this special status.

Any out-of-stater wanting to ship to Massachusetts would have to register with the state and pay excise taxes. The wine would be labeled for sale to a resident 21 years or over, with an adult's signature required at delivery, and purchases would be limited to 24 bottles a month. There would be little opportunity for abuse under the bill. In other states, wines offered for direct sale mostly exceed $20 a bottle, hardly the teenager's preferred tipple.

The Legislature needs to act, and it ought to reject one alternative favored by the liquor interests: a ban on shipments by both out-of-state and in-state wineries. Senator Michael Morrissey of Quincy, cochairman of the Consumer Protection Committee, insisted last week he is not seeking to impose a ban. ''We are trying to offer the consumer some choice, help the local wineries consistent with the Supreme Court decision, and balance the concerns of package stores and distributors," he said in a telephone interview.

Morrissey is thinking of limiting the size of wineries that could ship into the state, but, being discriminatory, that probably would violate the Constitution. It also ignores the reality that wineries on the scale of Joseph Phelps and Ridge, while large by Massachusetts standards, offer just the kind of choice, hard-to-get bottles that oenophiles crave.

The Consumer Protection Committee ought to live up to its name by approving a bill that benefits the individual wine drinker, not the interests that now control the trade.