(WineSpectator) - Much like finding a date, buying wine over the Internet is easier, safer and more popular than ever, but consumers who've gone through the process of purchasing wine online or over the phone from an out-of-state winery or retailer know that it always includes a tense moment of uncertainty, when the question arises: "What state do you live in?"

Which wineries and retailers will sell and ship wine directly to consumers varies from state to state, winery to winery and retailer to retailer. In most states, consumers may have wine shipped to them directly from a winery, though most states prohibit consumers from ordering wine from an out-of-state retailer. Today it is illegal for a state to permit consumers to buy wine directly from an in-state winery but not from an out-of-state winery, but a state's right to regulate retailer shipping is less clear, and most states will allow consumers to have wine delivered from a local retailer, but not from one beyond the state's borders.

As for who does the actual delivering, it's not the United States Postal Service, which won't accept packages containing alcohol. Most direct-to-consumer wine deliveries in the United States are handled by a common carrier such as UPS or FedEx, and the package must be signed for by an adult age 21 or older.

If that all weren't enough to keep track of, wine-shipping laws are very loosely enforced: Some wineries and retailers are happy to ship wine to states that may not permit it, and not since Prohibition has an adult consumer been prosecuted for illegally receiving wine for their own personal consumption. Many wine lovers have violated their state's wine shipping laws without even realizing it.

So how did we fall into this seemingly impossible-to-navigate sea of shipping laws? Following Prohibition and up to 2005, state lawmakers pretty much decided who could and could not ship and receive wine based on what they considered to be the best interests of their state—it led to a tangled web of inconsistent and often unfair wine laws. But then the Supreme Court stepped in, and the winery and retailer direct-to-consumer wine-shipping landscape has changed drastically in the decade since its landmark Granholm decision, which ruled that it was unconstitutional for a state to discriminate between in-state and out-of-state wineries when it comes to who may sell and ship wine directly to a consumer.