BOSTON -- Massachusetts residents drink wine more than residents of 43 other states and some Bay Staters with a true passion for the grape like to travel to far away vineyards, taste the fruity bouquets and are inspired to ship home a case or two.

But if you're a resident of Massachusetts, nearly all out-of-state vineyards won't ask "white or red?" They'll give you a simple "no way."

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported that John and Barbara Cruz are very serious about their wines and travel frequently from their Jamaica Plain home to California's vineyards.

They're frustrated by the Bay State's restrictive wine shipping law.

"They say, 'Where you from? Massachusetts?' And they say, 'Well, who do you know in Rhode Island and New Hampshire? '" John Cruz said.

The Cruz family and other wine lovers end up circumventing the Massachusetts law by having their wines shipped to friends in border states that really do allow direct shipping.

They say the commonwealth is infringing on their rights as consumers, and they're not the only ones.

Two other Massachusetts residents are plaintiffs with the Family Winemakers of California in a federal lawsuit against the Massachusetts agency that regulates liquor, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

In their lawsuit they allege the Bay State law is unconstitutional because it discriminates against out-of-state wineries in favor of instate economic interest.

On the surface this may seem like it's all about the grape. It is in fact all about the green. More than 7 million cases of domestic wines are sold here each year. It's also a revenue source out-of-state wineries would like to cultivate without going through wholesalers.

Sen. Michael Morrissey is the bad boy of the frustrated wine spectator set.

The restrictive wine statute was his brain-child after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that all states have to open up their borders. If Massachusetts wineries are allowed to ship out; they must allow other states to ship in.

Morrissey's law allows you to ship wine to Massachusetts only if the vineyard produces less than 30,000 gallons of wine a year, and if the winery has not done business with a Massachusetts wholesaler in the last six months.

"If 10 percent of wineries control 90 percent of business then I have to think they're already doing business in Commonwealth and there's no trouble getting wine through the distribution system," Morrissey said.

As chairman of the committee that regulates the industry, Morrissey's campaign committee gets money from both sides on the wine issue, especially the wholesalers. He doesn't apologize for keeping business and revenue in the Commonwealth.

"Our wineries are not shipping to Massachusetts. It's a cumbersome law, it's a cumbersome process and you have to fit into a very narrow structure in order to be able to be eligible to even apply," Carol Martel of the Wine Institute of California said.

The Commonwealth's restrictive law does appear to be keeping out-of-state wineries at bay. In 2006, only 12 small out-of-state wineries sought licenses to ship to Massachusetts.