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CORVALLIS — Wineries all over the country are toasting court decisions and legislative actions that have knocked down barriers to shipping their wares to customers in other states.

While some details are still being worked out, the legal changes hold out the enticing possibility of opening major markets to direct sales, where margins are higher than going through distributors.

“It’ll give us more opportunity to reach direct customers in some really big states, like New York,” said Charlotte Fidler, who handles shipping for Belle Vallee Cellars in Corvallis.

But wineries aren’t the only ones celebrating. The rise of interstate wine sales is creating opportunities for Western Pulp Products, a leading supplier of molded-fiber packing materials.

While most of the Corvallis-based company’s revenues come from selling specialized packing material for transporting furniture and molded flowerpots, Western Pulp has developed a burgeoning sideline in producing shipping trays for small quantities of wine.

“Our business is in the packaging of wines that are sent in twos, threes, sixes and twelves by overnight carriers,” said Rich Hurley, one of the company’s principal owners and chairman of its board of directors. “There’s an awful lot of stuff that is not moving in corrugated boxes.”

Western Pulp holds three patents on its wine shippers and has two more in the works. The company makes several basic styles that can be configured in a variety of ways for shipping different numbers of bottles.

The trays cradle the bottles within the shipping box, cushioning them against the vibration of truck or air transport and shielding them from rough handling at the warehouse or loading dock.

The trays are made at a 110,000-square-foot factory in the Airport Industrial Park south of Corvallis, where Western Pulp employs about 60 people. Like all the company’s products, the wine shippers are made from waste paper.

Recycled newsprint and kraft paper are shredded and mixed into a slurry consisting of 70 percent water and 30 percent fiber. A vacuum-molding process forms the slurry into trays, and ovens bake off the excess water. The finished product, which resembles an old-fashioned egg carton, is entirely recyclable.

While privately held Western Pulp won’t release sales figures for any of its products, Hurley said demand for the wine trays keeps a dedicated production line operating around the clock four days a week.

“It’s been a steady growth,” Hurley said. “There is an expanding market for purchasing smaller quantities of wine.”

Western Pulp’s biggest competition comes from shipping trays made of a synthetic material called expanded polystyrene, or EPS. While not as readily recyclable as molded fiber, it is cheaper to make. But that’s beginning to change.

“EPS is going crazy in price,” Hurley said. “The cost advantages now are tipping over in our direction.”

While wine trays will never be a major product for Western Pulp, the growth in demand is providing a welcome boost to the bottom line.

“It’s a nice little niche market,” Hurley said, “and our success as a company has been based on identifying and filling niches in the market.”

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On the Net: http://www.westernpulp.com