By Claudia Reed
SONOMA INDEX-TRIBUNE

Posted: Friday, July 27, 2007 12:01 AM PDT

Some vintners pour wine at a charity winetasting event and receive thanks. Other vintners do exactly the same thing and receive a citation for a license violation.

A bill designed to end what Assemblymember Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, calls regulatory "silliness" received unanimous passage in both houses of the state Legislature and is expected to be signed by the governor within the next two weeks.

"No one should be penalized for donating to charity," Evans said.

At issue are the different kinds of licenses assigned to different wine vendors by the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the strict "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" associated with each.

As matters now stand, it's okay for winery personnel, who sell to the public from their buildings under Type 02 licenses, to donate and pour their wines at nonprofit fund-raising events.

It's not okay for wholesalers, who operate under a Type 17 license, mail and Internet vendors who operate under a Type 20 license, and those holding both Type 17 and Type 20 licenses to do the same thing.  Silly or not, the regulatory difference was serious enough to cause a license suspension for four Napa Valley vintners who poured their product at a winetasting during last year's Tiburon Wine Festival, an event in which the proceeds are donated to various community causes.

Beverage Control initially recommended a 15-day suspension for each or a fine based on the vendor's gross revenues for the previous year.

Tom Bardessono of Bardessono Vineyards accepted the suspension. The owners of three other vineyards, Eagle Eye Wine, Elkhorn Peak Cellars and StoneFly Vineyard, appealed to administrative law judge Robert Coffman, who reduced the suspension to five days.  The appeal and the related publicity brought the issue to the attention of Assemblymember Evans, chairman of the Assembly Democratic Caucus and of the Assembly Select Committee on Wine.

"The citation of three Napa vintners in May of last year showed that current law needs to be changed," she said. "Government shouldn't be punishing anyone for donating to charity ... My legislation stops this silliness."

Her bill, AB 323, which extends charity wine-pouring and donation rights to those simultaneously holding Type 17 and Type 20 licenses, passed the Assembly 76-0 on May 21.

On the Senate side, the bill, sponsored by Senator Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, passed 76-0. At the urging of supporters, including Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, and a bi-partisan team of Assembly members, the Senate also passed an amendment making the bill an urgency measure. That means it will go into effect as soon as the governor signs it, rather than in January.

"This bill will prompt an immediate expansion of wine industry support for nonprofit organizations in our state," Evans said. "It allows well over a thousand additional vintners to support causes championed by the nonprofit community."

In 2005, California's wine industry made about $115 million worth of charitable contributions.

AB 323 is supported by the California Association of Non-Profits, the California Association of Winegrape Growers, Family Winemakers of California, Napa Valley Vintners and the Wine Institute.

Further information is available at www.legalinfo.ca.gov.