I am hopeful that the long-established, clear, bright lines of the boundaries of legality have not vanished in the rear-view mirror of entrepreneurism driven by unbridled and imprudent, if not reckless, enthusiasm," wrote Massachusetts ABCC General Counsel William Kelley to Groupon in February 2011 according to The Boston Globe. At issue are deals offered by group buying site Groupon for restaurants and retailers in Massachusetts. Groupon, a Chicago-based company launched in

In a change of policy for MassPack, the state's retailers are trying to have the restrictions on their ability to "export" wine lifted so they can compete for sales in other markets. A bill was submitted to the new session of the state legislature sponsored by Rep. Torrisi (Dem. North Andover). It has yet to be assigned a bill number. MassPack has historically argued against interstate shipping by MA retailers as part of a strategy that was intended to defend against shipment

New Englanders will tell you: If you don't like the weather wait a few hours; it will change. This winter might be the exception to the rule (it's been relentlessly cold for months it seems) but the Massachusetts wine market bears similarities to the weather. Just when you think you've got it figured out it changes. Take for example sales tax on alcoholic beverages. In 2008 the legislature increased the tax rate from 5% to 6.25% and lifted the exemption on alcoholic beverages

The two bottles of wine I bought on December 30th, 2010 hopefully be the last alcoholic beverage purchase I'll ever make in Massachusetts subject to sales tax. A bottle of sparkling wine for New Year's Eve was understandably time sensitive, but the other bottle - a highly recommended 2009 Beaujolais; won't be opened for a year or two. The sales tax was repealed on January 1st, 2011; why didn't I just wait a couple more days? Well, primarily because the tax implication on the

From Wine & Spirits Daily: "In a blow to Internet wine retailers, The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled last week that Wine.com, the Internet wine merchant, cannot lay blame for shipping wine to an underage girl on their common carrier, FedEx. The court upheld a five day suspension of Wine.com's license in the state. A 19 year-old woman ordered wine from Wine.com, which was delivered to her home by FedEx without an ID check. Wine.com pays FedEx two dollars per package to ch