On Way Out, Gov. Patrick Reverses ‘Mistake’ in Small Vineyard Shipper Law
One of outgoing Gov. Deval Patrick’s last official acts Thursday morning was signing legislation that reverses a clause in the Direct Wine Shipper license law, The Boston Globe reported.
Since November, small vineyards and cider houses in Massachusetts have been waiting to see what would happen in 2015 when new legislation no longer allowed them to sell their products directly to retailers. Lawmakers claimed that the change, intended only to affect out-of-state vineyards and ciderhouses, was an inadvertent mistake.
“An Act Regulating the Direct Shipment of Wine’’ was originally intended to allow out-of-state vineyards to sell and ship directly to consumers in limited amounts, while also limiting their ability to get on the shelves by requiring them to work through wholesale distributors in Massachusetts. Because of the way it was written, the legislation applied to all small farm wineries and ciderhouses, both in and out of state.
Leading up to the New Year, many of these small businesses were concerned that the mistake could dramatically affect their revenue, which relies heavily on selling directly to retailers and establishing brand relationships to get their products on the shelves.
“Now we have to give 30 percent of our business a distributor versus being able to throw it into a van and send it out to a restaurant. It’s a bunch of nonsense,’’ Ralph Bruno, owner of Boston Winery in Dorchester, told Boston.com in December. “But the fact that we can’t send wine out to direct retailers is detrimental to our business as well as the retailers, because now they may not have the best service because distributors have all the other wines. Now the retailers have a huge portfolio to choose from instead of working with a specific winery they know and like.’’
The law went into effect at the beginning of 2015. Hours before the Dec. 31 deadline, the state Senate passed a law to allow small farm wineries and cider houses to ship product directly to retailers, fixing the mistake. The legislation was still awaiting Patrick’s signature when the New Year rang in.
Nothing like waiting until the last minute. On his way out the door, Gov. Deval Patrick signed the law to correct the 19F clause for local vineyards at 11:05 a.m., right before Gov. Charlie Baker took his oath of office.
Those small vineyards can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
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