On December 8, 2021, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (“LCB”) approved New Rules to extend temporary pandemic-related licensee privileges for to-go orders and permanently amend the food service requirement for liquor licensees. The New Rules are clearly a step towards providing licensees additional flexibility to sell alcohol products in light of the ongoing … Continue Reading
Late last year, the President signed the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Act of 2020, which made most of the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (“CBMTRA”) provisions permanent starting January 1, 2021. The CBMTRA makes extensive changes to the federal excise taxes on wine, distilled spirits, and beer.… Continue Reading
As part of implementation of its Final Adopted Winery General Order, the State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB” or “Board”) will be holding a Winery General Order Fees Stakeholder Meeting on March 15 from 1:00-3:00 PM via Webcast. The updated notice for the Fees Stakeholder Meeting can be found here. In addition to the Fees … Continue Reading
At its January 20, 2021 Board meeting, the State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB” or “Board”) adopted its final General Waste Discharge Requirements (“WDRs”) for Winery Process Water (“Winery Order”) and associated Resolution for the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) Mitigated Negative Declaration. As a brief background, on July 3, 2020 the SWRCB released a … Continue Reading
In July, we blogged about the State Water Resources Control Board’s (“State Water Board’) release of proposed General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water Treatment Systems (see: July 15, 2020 blog post on proposed General Order and July 20, 2020 blog post on noticed stakeholder meetings). The State Water Board recently issued a revised … Continue Reading
A force majeure clause in a contract permits the suspension, or in some cases, the termination, of performance by a party to the contract upon the occurrence of a force majeure event. Traditionally, a force majeure event is a matter outside of the control of the obligated party that makes it impossible or impracticable for … Continue Reading
As a follow-up to our July 15, 2020 blog post regarding the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Water Board) release of proposed General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water Treatment Systems (proposed General Order), today the State Water Board issued a public notice regarding the first stakeholder meeting to discuss fees associated with … Continue Reading
On July 3, 2020, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) released proposed General Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water Treatment Systems (proposed General Order) along with the draft California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study and Mitigated Declaration for public comment. The proposed General Order will apply statewide, and includes requirements … Continue Reading
Beginning in mid-2019, many Washington wineries will need a permit from the state Department of Ecology (“Ecology”) to discharge wastewater. Ecology issued the state’s first five-year Winery General Permit (the “permit”) on May 17, 2018, but delayed its effective date until July 1, 2019. The new permit will regulate discharges of process wastewater from wineries … Continue Reading
As we wrote about earlier this month, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1) passed late last year included significant, temporary federal excise tax relief for wine, beer and spirits businesses for 2018 and 2019. Unfortunately, in an apparent oversight of legislative drafting, the wine excise tax relief (provided in the form of a … Continue Reading
The January 2017 “Guidance for Food Service at Wineries on Farmland under Oregon Senate Bill 841” issued by the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission and Oregon Liquor Commission with input from the Oregon Winegrowers Association, seeks to help answer questions that have arisen since the 2013 enactment of Senate Bill 841. Prior to enactment of … Continue Reading
Significant changes are on the way for Liquor Laws in Utah. H.B. 442 passed the legislature on March 8, 2017 and Governor Herbert signed it into law March 29, 2017. The new law makes numerous changes to how restaurants, dining clubs and off-premise beer retailers will operate. These changes will create opportunities for some, and present … Continue Reading
This blog post was co-authored by Stoel Rives attorneys Wes Miliband and Eric Skanchy. Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”), California’s landmark groundwater legislation, local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (“GSAs”) must be formed to assess conditions in their local water basins and to develop locally-based groundwater sustainability plans (“GSPs”). GSAs, which must be formed by June … Continue Reading
The following is an adaptation by my colleague Tony DeCristoforo of a post by Bryan Hawkins, Kirk Maag and Adam Belzberg that originally appeared on Stoel Rives World of Employment blog. California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed AB 1066, which will require grape growers and other agricultural employers in California to pay overtime under the same … Continue Reading
The interest in urban wineries is on the rise, with companies looking to take advantage of close proximity to customers, empty warehouse and industrial space, and access to city water and sewer. However, hidden land use issues can present significant problems when pursuing this type of urban property, particularly within the City of Portland (City). … Continue Reading
Congratulations to Pascal Brooks and Janie Heuck for their tremendous success growing Brooks Winery and keeping alive the memory of Pascal’s father and Janie’s brother Jimi. We join them in looking forward to viewing Strange Inheritance With Jamie Colby that tells the amazing story of their journey to preserve the winery for Pascal, which was … Continue Reading
The folks at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“PTO”) received nearly half a million trademark applications last year. These applications included thousands of new filings by breweries, vineyards, wineries, and distilleries. Here are five important lessons we learned from last year’s decisions by various trademark tribunals about protecting and registering your mark in the beer, … Continue Reading
The following post was written by my colleagues Tom Woods, Parissa Ebrahimzadeh & Bao Vu As part of the Northern California business community and as an advisor to business, we support the Napa and the surrounding Bay Area in getting homes and businesses back on their feet following the August 24, 2014 Napa Valley earthquake. … Continue Reading
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued a notice yesterday stating that it will consider waiving – on a case-by-case basis – late filing, payment or deposit penalties for taxpayers unable to file payment of Federal excise taxes due to the August 24, 2014, Northern California earthquake. Text of the statement follows … Continue Reading
Stoel Rives’ 7th Annual Oregon Wine Law Seminar attracted nearly 100 wine industry professionals and covered several hot topics ranging from employment law, allergen and organic labeling regulations, growler enforcement and other legislative updates, and distribution agreements. We also caught up with Mark Freund, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank, Kevin O’Brien, Director – Business Advisory, … Continue Reading
My colleagues Ryan Waterman and Parissa Ebrahimzadeh have evaluated the potential impacts of the new California industrial storm water permit on breweries, distilleries, and wineries in the state. See below for their report. On April 1, 2014, the California State Water Resources Control Board (“State Board”) unanimously adopted a new Industrial Storm Water permit (2014 … Continue Reading
By Chris Hermann and Bernie Kipp: The recent notice of the proposed new AVA “The Rocks” in northeast Oregon has kicked off a round of questions about what Northwest wineries may use as an appellation of origin on their labels when grapes are grown in multi-state AVAs such as the Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley, … Continue Reading
Today, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) released for public comment its Draft Industrial Storm Water Permit and supporting documents. This is the fourth (and likely final) version of the Draft Industrial Storm Water Permit, which is designed to replace the existing Industrial Storm Water Permit issued in 1997. The Draft Industrial Storm … Continue Reading
Stoel Rives LLP lawyers from the firm’s Beverage & Hospitality Group attended the 2014 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium last week in Sacramento, where they connected with new contacts, old friends, and current clients. On Tuesday, Colin Hunter, Chris Hermann and Elaine Albrich visited winegrape growers, industry contacts and production facilities in Clarksburg, Lodi and … Continue Reading
