New York Wine Laws, Go Figure!

In a classic illustration of the bizarre brainlessness of some of the liquor laws around the country, it seems that a wine shop in upstate New York recently got fined $10,000 for selling a wine gift bag to a customer. Yes, that's right, a gift bag. See, here in New York, wine shops can't sell gift bags—apparently it's considered "running a second business," though they can sells corkscrews, wine stoppers and various other accessories. You can, however, give the gift bags away.

On the other hand, if you sell alcohol to a minor in New York, that gets you a mere $1,000 fine. Of course, they can also throw you in jail for a year, so that's something, but still—ten drunk minors equals one gift bag?