Starting Tuesday, Aug. 9, the wine-buying website Lot18 launches in Maryland.
Although inititial access to Lot18 normally works through an invitation system , the company is providing readers of this blog a link for direct registration without first requesting an invitation.
You'll have to decide for yourself if the service Lot18 provides is of interest to you, though. The company says it "brings insider access to the best in wine and artisanal selections...thanks to the company's partnerships with numerous out-of-state wineries that are now legally allowed to ship to Maryland consumers under the state's recently revised direct-shipping laws."
The new laws that permit Marylanders to order direct shipping from wineries at first did not result in an overnight avalanche of wineries seeking permits. Adam Borden, the director of Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws (MBBWL), the consumer advocacy group that rallied for the direct-shipping bill's passage, thought Lot18 might provide useful service for Maryland wine buyers and contacted the New York-based company.
"They've put a very concerted effort into finding wineries that want to ship to Maryland and, more importantly, helping them get the appropriate permit,' Borden says.
The Maryland comptroller's office publishes an up-to-date list of wineries that have applied for the permit. As of Aug. 12, over 250 out-of-state wineries have applied for the permit -- about a third of them are pending.