(AZCentral) - A bill that would allow Arizona consumers to order wine and have it shipped to their homes or businesses was introduced in the Arizona Legislature on Thursday.

More than a dozen lawmakers signed on as primary sponsors of the measure, with another 21 listed as co-sponsors. The bipartisan group of lawmakers includes members of legislative leadership.

The bill was crafted by the California-based wine-industry group Free the Grapes, which has backed similar legislation in other states.

Arizona wineries were among the state interest groups that helped shape the bill, according to Gordon C. James, the Phoenix-based public-relations firm representing Free the Grapes in Arizona.

The bill would take away two of the three tiers between consumers and wine producers that were put in place after Prohibition. That regulatory system requires alcoholic beverages, in most cases, to pass through a distributor and then to a retail shop before a consumer can buy it.

The bill will face opposition from wholesalers and grocery interests, said Karie Dozer, executive director of the Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association. She said Thursday she had not had a chance to read the proposed bill yet, and could not detail what the arguments against it would be.

Among the groups that will be opposed to the bill, she said, are the Arizona Food Marketers Association and the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association.

The bill would allow state residents of legal drinking age to order wine by phone or online and have it shipped directly to their homes or businesses. There are some provisos. Among them: The wine must be for personal use, and the wine must be delivered to someone of verified legal drinking age.

Under the bill, a winery could ship a maximum of 18 12-bottle cases of wine a year to a consumer in Arizona.

Wineries that wish to ship directly to consumers would have to apply for a license under the bill. The fee for that direct-shipping license is not specified in the legislation.

Current Arizona law only allows direct shipping by small wineries, defined as those that make less than 20,000 gallons a year.

For a sense of perspective, Arizona’s largest wineries, Page Springs Cellars and Arizona Stronghold, are about that size.

Under the proposed law, small wineries would need to be licensed as farm wineries in order to directly ship to consumers. That rule would only apply to out-of-state wineries; Arizona wineries, to legally make wine, would already be licensed as farm wineries.

Those smaller wineries would also not be subject to the annual 18-case limit.

Larger wineries would only need the shipping license to ship to the state.

Currently, larger wineries may ship directly to a customer only if the wine was ordered while actually standing in the winery.