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That's the plea from the Wholesale Beer and Wine Association and the Ohio Wine Producers Association.
A new state law bans direct shipping to Ohioans from wineries that produce more than 150,000 gallons per year.
So, if consumers prefer wine from Napa Valley, Calif., or elsewhere, they must purchase it at the neighborhood liquor store.
When this provision was hastily inserted into the state budget bill in June, it was seen as a way to protect Ohio wineries, which have a strong presence in Northeast Ohio.
Yet, state lawmakers only succeeded in letting government tinker with the free market. Once the market adjusts, lawmakers will get the opposite of intended results.
This new restriction cuts off at least 100 California wineries from direct sales to Ohioans, according to a published report. Limiting supplies will increase the cost of wine.
Compounding this is that the bill will again compel consumers to comply with Ohio's three-tier system if they want to buy a bottle from a large winery, according to a published report.
Wine wholesalers can mark up bottles at least 33.3 percent before passing the wine to a store or restaurant, which adds at least 50 percent, the published report stated.
So wine consumers lose no matter what they do or where they go.
Ohio vineyard owners should tell state lawmakers they want no favors because they believe their products beat any competitor in Ohio or elsewhere.
Additionally, the shoddy way legislators handled this bill should persuade all of them, not just state Rep. Matt Dolan, R-Russell Township, to revisit this issue.
It was stuffed into the budget bill at the 11th hour, without any public discussion.
That's no way to help Ohio adhere to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that stated in-state and out-of-state wineries must be treated the same.
And Dolan, House Finance Committee Chairman, admitted he didn't look at the final bill closely enough.
Lawmakers now must undo the damage, and they should do so quickly.
