To the shame of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, consumers who love wine the most usually are the most critical about the state monopoly that is supposed to serve them. There are gripes about grapes, and a state bill will generate more of them.

People have plenty of reasons to dislike a post-Prohibition relic that is one of the last government liquor monopolies in the nation. The very idea that the state is in the liquor business might offend even a teetotaler who believes in free enterprise.

But wine connoisseurs have special problems. They often can't find what they want, they have no confidence that state outlets will store their expensive bottles properly and they want to have the same rights as wine lovers in many states where consumers are treated as sophisticated adults.

The U.S. Supreme Court gave that last objection a boost three years ago when it decided that the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution did not allow in-state wineries to be treated more favorably than those shipping from out of state.

Tending to the unfinished business left by the court ruling, and fearing a lawsuit if nothing were done, state Rep. Paul Costa, a Democrat from Wilkins who is the chairman of the House Liquor Control subcommittee on licensing, has reintroduced legislation that would allow the direct shipment of wine through the PLCB. As the bill is written, he gets it half right.

The trouble with House Bill 2165 is the continuing involvement of the PLCB. Orders placed with wineries inside or outside the state would have to be made at a state store or on the PLCB Web site, and the wine would be routed through a state store or distribution center.

As it is now, wine not carried by the state stores can be ordered through licensed direct wine shippers listed on the PCLB Web site and picked up at a state store. Under this bill, customers could also pick it up there or have it delivered for a fee (which would be new). All the usual taxes would apply.

A group of wine lovers has a better idea. In a petition being circulated online, they suggest that shippers register with the liquor control board for a permit -- which would be given on the condition that shipments would be legal and signed for by an adult. The shippers would collect a direct shipment tax of 5 percent. No other taxes would apply on the sound theory that state involvement is minimal.

But that would mean allowing a small dose of free enterprise in a system fundamentally anathema to it. So in its place, HB 2165 is offered as part of the solution, when it really is part of the same old problem.

To be fair, Rep. Costa sees his bill as a plan to be fleshed out in discussions with interested parties, including wine lovers. In the week of the Pittsburgh Wine Festival, let us raise a glass to the hope that this vintage will mature.