Viticulture briefs

The Sonoma County Winegrape Commission on Tuesday will host a seminar on vineyard employment law.

The seminar for vineyard managers will be conducted in English and Spanish. It will take place from 8 to 11 a.m. at Shone Farm, 6225 Eastside Road, Forestville.

The free program is open to all Sonoma and Marin County grape growers. Speakers will include officials from the Economic and Employment Enforcement Coalition, as well as state and federal labor agencies.

For information, call 522-5864 or e-mail info@sonomawinegrape.org.

Direct-to-consumer conference
The Direct to Consumer Symposium, a wine industry conference about sales of wine directly to consumers, takes place Tuesday in Napa.

Speakers will touch on subjects ranging from building stronger wine clubs to the continuing litigation to open up states to direct shipments of wine.

The keynote speaker is Bill Tancer, author of "Click," who will discuss how the Internet is changing the way people absorb information and how businesses can use it to their advantage.

The event, presented by the Coalition for Free Trade and Free the Grapes! takes place at the Meritage Resort & Spa. For information, visit

coalitionforfreetrade.org

Wine excise tax not in budget
The California Legislature's budget compromise struck Thursday does not include the "nickel a drink" tax on wine, beer and distilled spirits proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and vigorously opposed by the state's wine industry.

The San Francisco-based Wine Institute lobbied hard to block the new tax, which would have pushed the state's wine excise tax from 20 cents per gallon to $1.48 per gallon.

The organization argued that the tax would be punitive by singling out one industry and would result in a 25 percent increase in the price of many wines priced under $7 per bottle.

The negative impacts of the tax on wineries and restaurants, which are already suffering during the recession, more than outweighed the benefits of the tax, the group said.