(Wine-Searcher) - How and when a wine can be returned by a retailer is now under question.

The United States' three-tier system – which was put in place upon the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 – has long legislated wine sales without seeming to always have a consistent coherent policy. Despite decades of justified industry pushback and questioning, sometimes the agency's more-than-oddball legislations can sometimes actually be fair, logical and efficient. The case against” consignment” sales seems to be one of them.

Recent hubbub about "consignment sales", in which retailers can sell back less-than-popular previously purchased wine to the wholesalers who sold it to them, has garnered quite a bit of attention. Alcoholic beverage-specialized attorneys, including San Francisco expert John Hinman – a partner in the drinks-focused firm of Hinman & Carmichael – says that these types of sales are easy to prosecute.