Want a drink? Show your ID.
“100% ID for everyone,” perhaps the nation’s strictest alcoholic-beverage ID law, took effect in Utah on January 1.
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As of that date, everyone must show ID to purchase alcohol at all bars, restaurants, convenience stores, and grocery stores in Utah. There are no exceptions, regardless of your age or appearance. What’s more, individuals convicted of DUI after this date will have their legal ID marked “NO ALCOHOL SALE” in red.
DUI on your record? Utah’s strict new “100% ID for everyone” law marks your driver license with a bright red note that spells out “No booze for you.”
Annoying? Intrusive? Over the top? It’s easy to jump to conclusions. I’m just as glad not to have to flash ID every time I pick up a bottle of wine or order a glass at a restaurant. Still, Utah’s legislation is built from good intentions, following the 2021 death of 13-year-old Eli Mitchell, killed by a drunk driver leaving a Utah bar.
“The driver that killed my grandson had five prior DUIs,” Eli’s grandfather, Glendon Mitchell, who lobbied for this law after Eli’s death, told Salt Lake City station KSL. “Can you imagine how different his life would be—his family’s life, our lives—if he hadn’t been allowed to buy alcohol that day?”
Seen in that light, Utah’s stern rule seems to make more sense than many of the odd booze-related laws that abound in the U.S. Among often-cited examples that feel difficult to sort from urban legends, in Fairbanks, Alaska, it is illegal to give alcohol to a moose. Colorado bans drinking on horseback.
And in Kentucky, the birthplace of and tourist lodestar for bourbon whiskey, a majority of counties – especially away from the larger cities like Louisville, my home town – are either fully “dry,” banning alcoholic beverage sales entirely, or “moist,” permitting such sales only in limited circumstances.
Louisville, in contrast, is very “wet” indeed, allowing bars to remain open 22 hours daily and permitting beer sales in gas stations and wine and liquor in pharmacies (although not, oddly, in grocery stores, where only beer may be sold).
And so it goes. Ever since the repeal of national Prohibition with the 21st Amendment in 1933 turned over primary authority to regulate alcohol sales and distribution to each individual state, liquor law has become a wacky patchwork.
What’s it like where you live? Join the conversation in our Substack and tell us about the strangest, funniest, and most frustrating liquor laws that you’ve encountered.
Now, let’s turn to this week’s featured wine, Terredora Dipaolo 2023 Corte di Giso Falanghina, a neighbor and stylistic cousin to the Agricoltura Sinergica 2021 “L’Archetipo” Salento Fiano featured last week. It’s another rich, aromatic Southern Italian white, and this one fits easily into the under-$20 range.
Today’s Tasting Report
Terredora Dipaolo 2023 Corte di Giso Irpinia Falanghina ($17.99)
Terredora Dipaolo 2023 Corte di Giso Falanghina is a clear straw-color wine, made entirely with Falanghina grapes from Irpinia in Southern Italy’s Campania region. Its pleasant aroma offers a bouquet of mixed fruit focused on apples, pears, and a whiff of clover honey. Its medium-bodied flavor follows the nose, with just a hint of fresh sweetness that quickly gives way to crisp, mouth-watering acidity in a long finish. 13.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Vias Imports LTD, NYC. (Jan. 10, 2026)
FOOD MATCH:
A very food-friendly wine, versatile enough to serve for the whole meal; ideal with appetizers, soups, fish dishes, buffalo mozzarella, and fresh cheeses.
WHEN TO DRINK: It’s excellent now, but a quality Falanghina like this might benefit from three to five years in a temperature-controlled wine cellar.
VALUE:
Wine-Searcher.com lists a $19 average U.S. retail price, which is a good value for this excellent white wine; but vendors show an unusually broad range from $12 to the upper $20s, so if your local price seems high, be wary.
WEB LINK:
Here’s producer Terradora’s helpful fact sheet (in English).
For more details, here’s importer Vias’s detailed tech sheet.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Corte di Giso Irpinia Falanghina on Wine-Searcher.com.
Read about the Irpinia appellation in the Campania region of southern Italy and find links to dozens of Irpinia wines and vendors at this Wine-Searcher link.
Follow this Wine-Searcher link for information about the Falanghina grape, with links to many wines and vendors.
Find the wines you want
Explore Wine-Searcher
Wine-Searcher.com is the place to go online if you want to find where to buy a particular wine that interests you. What’s more, Wine-Searcher.com offers so much more. It’s well worth a visit just to discover its many features, including its popular list of the world’s Top 10 Best Value Wines.
Good wines we’ve tried under $12!
Want tips to still more good, inexpensive wines? Here are Wine-Searcher links to vendors and prices for a bunch more wines for $12 or less that I’ve told you about in recent years. In some cases, the prices may have risen since I reviewed them, but they should still be excellent bargains. Please tell us about your favorites!
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Let's hope the Utahns checking IDs are smarter than the ones I encountered in California when I first moved there? I didn't mind being carded because I was only 23 (although I'd already been working in wine retail in the UK for 5 years by then). But they asked for a California drivers licence which I had not yet gotten. I offered my (UK) passport and was told, no, only a CA driver's license was acceptable.