Now is a great time to join a wine club, thanks to a new law allowing wineries and consumers greater freedom to come together.
March 1, 2016 – Prohibition was ended in 1933 to quell a bootleg liquor industry that was running amok, ruled by gangsters like Al Capone. In the aftermath, the pendulum swung in favor of tough, often burdensome, liquor regulations. Though times have drastically changed, remnants of arcane liquor laws still remain in effect. (It was only a scant three years ago that the state relinquished its monopoly on liquor sales.)
But good changes are happening, with help from the Washington Wine Institute, a lobbying arm for the wine industry. Among winery owners who currently sit on the board are Craig Leuthold of Maryhill Winery, Marty Clubb of L’Ecole N° 41, and Mike Conway of Latah Creek, each of them bringing decades of experience to the table.
Their latest win is the freshly minted Senate Bill 5596, which was approved by the Washington State Legislature with overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle (led by Senator Curtis King and Rep. Sharon Wylie) late last spring. Under the old law, it was illegal for a winery to directly sell to consumers at a wine tasting event unless it was held at the winery’s tasting room. The new statute amends this, granting wineries and their customers a larger playing field to come together in an evolving marketplace.
The law has the potential to be a “game changer” according to Craig Leuthold of Maryhill, whose winery is located on the Columbia Gorge in Goldendale.
“The vast majority of wines available at retail outlets are from larger wineries, so the small wineries rarely get the chance to sell their wines to the public outside of their tasting rooms,” remarks Craig, explaining how the new rule brings buyers and sellers closer together in the marketplace. “Consumers won’t have to travel in order to taste wines exclusive to tasting rooms, or wines that are generally not available at retail, which is a very high percentage of most small wineries’ production,” he says.
To test the waters, Maryhill held a private tasting event last November in Vancouver, Wash. featuring their single-vineyard wines. Attendees were able to sample over 30 selections and purchase their favorite bottlings before going home. “The event was very well attended and the feedback from the attendees was universally positive,” says Craig. “It was the first time we were able to taste all of our vineyard series wines in one place and because of its success we have scheduled two additional events.”
Mike Conway, of Spokane-based Latah Creek, touches on advantages not previously available to the state’s roughly 900 wineries. “It is a great piece of legislation that can benefit all wineries, no matter what size, but can be extremely beneficial to smaller wineries that don’t have market wide product distribution,” he points out. Mike illustrates that if a winery gets a request to do an in-home wine tasting where the attendees can actually buy on the spot, this is now a legal option.
From the consumer’s standpoint, there has probably never been a better time to join a Washington wine club since the terms of the new law favor so-called “private events.” The most common of these are wine club member-only release parties (known as pick-up parties) that can take place far from the winery.
Marty Clubb, of L’Ecole N° 41 in Walla Walla, sees this as a tremendous benefit. “The most important aspect of this new legislation is to allow wineries to hold wine club events in a different location from the winery and be able to sell product,” he states. “Most of L’Ecole’s club members live on the west side [of the Cascades], and allowing these events creates greater opportunities for both the winery and our customers.”
Joanne Dunham, owner of Dunham Cellars, agrees completely with Clubb. “The new law is so important for us to help our customers purchase wine other than at our winery, since we don’t have a second tasting room location,” she explains. “We have three wine club shipments a year, and for at least two of them our team travels to an out-of-town location to accommodate our customers—saving them shipping costs and giving them the ability to purchase additional wine.”
Maryhill Winery was one of the first to file for a permit to conduct a private event under the new rules. As of this writing, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board reports they have issued a total of 42 permits since the bill was signed into law less than a year ago.
When it comes to outmoded liquor regulations, there is no question more reform is desperately needed to ensure that Washington citizens (and winery owners) enjoy the same privileges as their counterparts in other states. As Marty Clubb points out, this newest piece of legislation brings us “one more step toward the modern era.”
Written by John Vitale