ATLANTA — Farm wineries in Georgia should be allowed to sell up to 24,000 gallons of their wine without first being refused by an established distributor, the state House Rural Development Council said in its recommendations for the 2019 legislative session.
Under current state law, producers that want a wholesale license must first receive a denial letter from an established distributor.
“The problem for farm wineries is that some distributors are not interested in doing business with small vineyards, while other distributors view them as competition and will not give them a denial letter,” the council said in its recommendations. “To circumvent this, several wineries that had already been approved as distributors began writing denial letters to other wineries so that they could become their own distributors.”
However, according to state lawmakers, the Department of Revenue closed this loophole.
Now, House Rural Development Council members want the state legislature to direct the Department of Revenue to streamline the paperwork and process for farm wineries in addition to legislation allowing farm wineries to sell up to 24,000 gallons of their wine without first obtaining a refusal letter.