New Jersey's wineries and consumers are able to celebrate a truly historic victory this week thanks to support from Governor Chris Christie, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and the legislators who sponsored S-3172, and fought hard for its enactment last week. NJ will now become the latest state to allow wine to be shipped from wineries to consumers in NJ and 38 other states.
Yesterday, Governor Christie addressed the state Agricultural Convention in Atlantic City and praised the bipartisan effort among state legislators to pass S-3172, which he said was "long overdue." Senate President Sweeney, in addressing the same group yesterday, said the wine shipping bill was the bitterest fight he had been involved with in his legislative career. He went on to comment, "The other side spent over $1 million fighting this." The Press of Atlantic City reported today on both NJ leaders' remarks at the convention, to read the articles please click here, and click here.
UnCorkNJ wants to thank Governor Christie and Senate President Sweeney for supporting NJ's wine industry and consumers and rejecting the false and misleading claims made by the liquor lobby in opposition to S-3172. Enactment of this historic legislation will enable the state's wine industry to expand and continue to produce quality award winning wines, further enhancing New Jersey's national image as a major wine growing state. The direct shipping legislation also provides NJ wine consumers access to many more wines from NJ and around the nation, which are not available on the shelves of NJ wine retailers. And, the legislation will stimulate agri-tourism, preserve farmland, create jobs and bring new tax and permit fee revenue to the state.
This victory is a major turning point for NJ's wineries and consumers, which could never have been accomplished without the efforts of thousands of UnCorkNJ supporters, who let their elected representatives know daily of their commitment to passing the legislation. This was a truly grassroots campaign, and everyone who took the time to take action should receive the credit for enacting the legislation. UnCorkNJ is now asking all of its supporters to please take a moment and take action today and thank Governor Christie and the sponsors of S-3172, Senate President Sweeney, Assemblyman John Burzichelli, Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski, Assemblywoman Celeste Riley and Assemblyman Ron Dancer, for their leadership and unwavering support for this legislation. Please also thank Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (AswOliver@njleg.org), Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald (AsmGreenwald@njleg.org) and Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (AsmBramnick@njleg.org) for their strong support of S-3172.
UnCorkNJ would like to ask that you please stay involved with our efforts to advocate for NJ's wine consumers. Soon you will be hearing about new legislation which will further benefit the state's wineries and consumers. We thank you again for your past support, and encourage you to enlist other NJ wine consumers as advocates.
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