Food with Wine

By Angela Hatton

Murray, KY – Currently, grocery stores in Kentucky counties that allow alcohol sales may only carry beer, but one state organization is trying to change that. The Kentucky Food with Wine Coalition began in 2007 with a group of food store owners. Spokesman Luke Schmidt says it makes good business sense to sell wine in a grocery.

Nationwide, wine is the second fastest growing category in food stores, second only to bottled water. So the grocery store operators thought it perhaps the time had come, because the consumers were asking for it, to take a look at it.

The coalition believes allowing wine in groceries would indirectly boost state revenue through increased consumer spending. Schmidt estimates a revenue jump of about 55-million dollars over five years. In Western Kentucky, Fulton, McCracken, and Christian counties allow alcohol. Kentucky is one of only sixteen states that prohibit wine sales in food stores.