A new Massachusetts law allows wineries and vineyards to sell their wine products at agricultural events throughout the state of Massachusetts. Under this law, a winery can obtain a temporary license from a local liquor authority to sell their wines by the bottle or allow tastings at agricultural events (i.e….
Category: General Wine Law
Owning & Operating an Urban Winery or Brewery
Rohan Shrikhande of The Wine Law Blog has been quite busy this summer helping to organize a seminar titled Owning and Operating an Urban Winery or Brewery. (Official website at The Seminar Group.) The seminar, which is to be held on November 10, 2010 in San Diego at the Doubletree…
Pennsylvania’s Wine Vending Machines
When I first read about Pennsylvania’s wine vending machines, two thoughts initially crossed my mind: (1) Cornell University’s apple vending machine has some competition for most obscure vending machine, and (2) what are the probable legal repercussions of implementing such a machine? What is the idea behind this device? Simple….
Granholm v. Heald and the Wine Industry
General Information on Granholm In the 2005 opinion of Granholm v. Heald, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5–4 decision that state laws allowing in-state wineries to make direct sales to customers but effectively authorizing out-of-state wineries to make sales only through wholesalers at a greater expense are unconstitutional. The…
Is There a Future for the Three-Tier Alcohol Beverage Distribution System?
The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 by the 21st Amendment of the United States Constitution not only reinstated the legality of alcohol beverage consumption, but also introduced a new system for alcohol beverage distribution: the three-tier system. The three-tier system creates a platform between alcohol beverage producers, distributors, and retailers….
Welcome to On Reserve: A Wine Law Blog
On Reserve: A Wine Law Blog discusses the legal issues of the wine industry, offering insight to contemporary and historical issues.