Virginia wine industry escapes budget cuts

NORFOLK -- Despite the lingering recession, these are good times for the Virginia wine industry. Success can be attributed to more than just good grapes. The industry has some good friends in Richmond.

In four rounds of deep budget cuts that have hit education and the arts and closed rest stops, the wine industry remains untouched. 

Years ago, the state established the Virginia Wine Board, largely to promote Virginia wines. The board is funded through a Liter tax of about $3.50 a case that’s passed onto consumers.

"The wineries came to the General Assembly a couple of years ago and said 'We will accept a tax on us as long as we can use that money to promote the wine industry,'" explains Gov. Tim Kaine. 

Last year, that tax poured $1.3 million into the General Fund. Close to $500,000 was returned to the wine industry.

"The average Virginian would look at this and say ‘This doesn't look right. This doesn't pass the smell test,’" believes Quentin Kidd, who teaches government at Christopher Newport University. 

He says the arrangement strikes him as inappropriate and hearing that an industry cut a deal with the state is what causes people to be frustrated with government.

"For someone who is out of a job, collecting unemployment, to say the Virginia Wine Board hasn't had its budget cut, I don't think the average Virginian can make sense of that," he adds.

Kaine’s office says the Wine Board wasn't cut because it's self-funded, meaning it raises its own money like the Virginia Dept. of Transportation. Yet, VDOT has seen cuts.

Colleges and universities have been cut, despite raising some of their own money through fees and tuition.

The Wine Board says it's surprised at surviving the budget ax each of the four times the governor has wielded it.

So, here's to the continued success of the Virginia wine industry. You paid for it!