California Legislature Approves Second Tasting Room Bill

The California State Legislature has approved legislation by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Wine, to enable wineries to offer consumers wine by the glass or bottle in a second tasting room while expanding public review in the winery licensure process.

Sponsored by the Wine Institute, Assembly Bill 1470 passed the Assembly 63-0, following a Senate vote of 40-0 for approval. It awaits the governor's signature or veto.

"This is the right bill at the right time to aid one of California's signature industries feeling the pains of our recession," Evans said in a press release. "Fewer tourists are visiting wine country in this era of staycations. This bill helps bring wine to the people by authorizing wineries to conduct new kinds of direct sales to their consumers."

"Wineries are situating their duplicate tasting rooms in locales like San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Cannery Row in Monterey, Clarksburg in the Delta, and the town of Sonoma, sometimes partnering with one another to provide a broader consumer experience," Wine Institute president and CEO Bobby Koch said in the release. "Assemblymember Evans' legislation is great for wineries and their customers."

AB 1470 has three main components:

• Establishing consistency in how wineries (02 licensees) may sell their wines at locations operating under duplicate licenses as allowed under existing law for their master license.

• Conforming the issuance of duplicate licenses to a 30-day public review period. Such review is not currently part of the issuance process.

• Encouraging responsible wine consumption among wine bar customers by allowing them to take home unfinished bottles of wine, as is currently permitted at restaurants and wineries. The bill applies this "brown bag" privilege to wine bars operating under a standard beer and wine bar (type 42) license or a duplicate winery (type 02) license.