Celebrating 20 years, the beverage alcohol compliance leader looks back at recent trends and what they mean for the year ahead
ATLANTA (December 15, 2025)—As Sovos ShipCompliant marks its twentieth anniversary—alongside the landmark Granholm v. Heald ruling that helped define the modern direct-to-consumer (DtC) wine shipping landscape—the beverage alcohol compliance leader reflects on two decades of industry transformation. Against this milestone backdrop, and amid a regulatory environment that continues to evolve, Sovos ShipCompliant reviewed some of the most significant developments of 2025 and what businesses should prepare for in 2026.
“It’s clear that the DtC wine shipping market has matured tremendously over the past two decades,” said Alex Koral, regulatory general counsel, Sovos ShipCompliant. “This year proved to be eventful for the DtC shipping market, but there’s still a long way to go in terms of adoption and legislation. As we head into 2026, wineries, breweries, and distilleries alike need to continue to be proactive, embrace new technology, and watch regulatory changes closely to be well-positioned for success.”
Drawing from insights across its regulatory intelligence network and its global customer base, Sovos ShipCompliant identified the major forces shaping state laws in the coming year.
- Evolving Shipping Permissions: Arkansas, Delaware, and Mississippi passed new statewide laws expanding access for DtC wine shipping, though each has significant restrictions towards wineries that service customers. Maine extended its container redemption program to DtC wines, which created additional compliance burdens due to registration requirements. California enacted a Granholm-compliant DtC shipping law for distilled spirits, which allows for broader legal shipping within the state.
- Economic Factors: A series of federal shifts such as tariffs, along with the longest governmental shutdown on record, created backlogs and delays for producers, importers, and other suppliers. The new administration’s reversal of threatened enhanced government warning labels brought some relief to the industry.
- Market Conditions: The overall beverage alcohol market remained challenging in 2025, with analysts noting broad declines in consumption across all product types and consumer groups. Even more voguish products, like RTD cocktails and seltzers, performed less robustly in recent history. Due to the general market conditions, there were declines in DtC shipping across categories, although it remains an important channel for wineries, distilleries, and breweries to connect with current and new customers.
Heading into 2026, the DtC landscape may face greater pressure to streamline adherence to shipping and compliance requirements. As states further adapt their regulations, many producers are expected to take a closer look at how they track data, modernize records, and coordinate operations across markets—signaling a broader industry move towards modern processes that keep pace with changing rules.
“It has been our absolute privilege to work alongside so many fantastic partners over the past 20 years, helping to grow the DtC shipping into a multibillion-dollar market,” added Koral. “Through the years, we have seen a great deal of change, largely for the better, with greater access and availability to the tremendous number of delicious beverages produced and sold in this country.”
To read Sovos ShipCompliant’s year-end insights, visit this link.
About Sovos
Sovos provides businesses with the confidence needed to navigate an increasingly regulated world. Offering a modern, IT driven response to compliance, Sovos’ solutions are scalable, reliable and secure and provide a great user experience. Sovos has more than 100,000 customers, including half the Fortune 500, as well as businesses of every size operating in more than 70 countries. The company’s cloud-based solutions integrate with a wide variety of business applications and government compliance processes. Sovos has employees throughout the Americas and Europe and is owned by Hg and TA Associates. For more information visit sovos.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
Sovos ShipCompliant has been the leader in automated alcohol beverage compliance tools for 20 years, providing a full suite of cloud-based solutions to wineries, breweries, distilleries, importers, distributors, and retailers to ensure they meet all federal and state regulations for direct-to-consumer and three-tier distribution. ShipCompliant’s solutions reduce risk, lessen the burden of compliance, accelerate bringing products to market and enable revenue growth. With 60+ partner integrations, Sovos ShipCompliant leads a robust ecosystem of technology partnerships, enabling powerful complementary solutions. For more information, visit sovos.com/shipcompliant and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
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