411: Quit Your Wining

With the passage of HB 429 in 2008, of-age Illinois citizens lost their right to buy wines from out-of-state retailers. Some Illinois wine-lovers, not a bunch to take things lying down, have formed IWCC, the Illinois Wine Consumer Coalition. “We are a group of people that have run across each other on different Web sites and different boards and had the same complaints about not being able to get the wine we wanted,” explains Gretchen Neuman, IWCC Steering Committee member. “As we talked, we realized we needed to organize.” While they met and organized online, the IWCC Steering Committee also gets together in person. “We all met in December,” Neuman says. “We sat around at Bin 36 drinking wine and talking about the laws.” Alas, it is not all wine-swilling and mud-slinging. “At this point we are trying to gather members and inform the public about what’s going on,” Neuman says. “We’re hoping that with enough voices, enough signatures on the petition, we can get the attention of our legislators and change this anti-consumer law. We are hoping that as little as a few thousand names can really make our voice heard.”