At a time when her teenage peers were downing sodas and other sweet drinks, Gina Hoagland was falling in love with dry wine. A high school friend’s parents introduced her to their wine cellar and allowed her to choose any bottle. They would then educate her about its taste and origin.

“There was this whole world in a glass,” said Hoagland, who began her freshman year in college with a wine rack in her dorm room. “Everybody else was drinking to get drunk, and I was sipping my Entre-deux-Mers.”

Last year, she broke ranks again by purchasing Webster Groves-based Trademark Wines, making her a member of a small but growing group of women in the United States who own liquor distribution operations. Missouri, like most other states, has a three-tier distribution system put in place after Prohibition under which alcohol producers and suppliers must sell their products to wholesalers or distributors, who then sell the beverages to retailers.