Tennessee Grocery Stores Can Now Lawfully Sell Wine to Anyone Over 21

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – As of 8 o’clock Friday morning, Tennessee residents can lawfully buy wine in grocery stores.

Merchants and lawmakers are calling it a milestone in alcoholic beverage history in Tennessee.

Food City stores turned the event into a party.

Food city executives were joined by city leaders, elected officials and a large crowd this morning at the store in St. Elmo.

The question was–who would buy the first bottle of wine sold? There were plenty of volunteers, and an unidentified customer purchased a box exactly at 8, and left—but the first to buy a single bottle of vino was Jim Winsett, President of the Chattanooga Better Business Bureau.

Then, the A.M. Party got underway with our own Chip Chapman having a little game with wine expert Jennifer Gregory.

CHIP AND JEN Vin Thuisiasm “I’m going to grab a bottle or two of wine at random and you tell me everything you can about it in ten seconds or less. Are you ready? Ready. Ready Go. Here we go. Alright 3-2-1. Sterling Vintner Collection Chardonay. Chardonay, from California. Should be a little bit oak, a little bit butter. Should be delicious with anything on the summer table. Alright. ”

It was actually an important day for merchants and customers alike.

MICKEY BLAZER, EXEC. V.P., FOOD CITY STORE OPERATIONS “Our average store has over 1100 varieties of different wines, and if you equate that out to cases or to bottles we brought in…somewhere between 6 and 10-thousand bottles of win per store.”

Lawmakers had tried to get the law passed for years.

REP. JOANNE FAVORS, (D) CHATTANOOGA “I do not think that it’s really going to have a negative impact on those liquor stores and I’m happy that they were able to reach a compromise.”

SEN. BO WATSON, (R) HIXSON “People got excited about it; they started writing folks like me. There was a ground swell of support. And then, you had to have a local referendum. So clearly, the communities where there is wine in grocery stores, it is something the community wants.”

REP. PATSY HAZLEWOOD, (R) CHATTANOOGA ” It means people in Tennessee are now able to do the same things that many folks in our neighboring states have been able to do for a long time.”

There is one stipulation in the new Tennessee law–no wine sales on Sunday.

Effective Friday, 459 retail food stores in Tennessee may lawfully sell wine to anyone over 21.