HB637 Summary

• Establishes the Alabama Small Winery Business Viability Act to facilitate operations of small wineries (those manufacturing less than 75,000 gallons annually) licensed by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

• Authorizes small wineries to sell directly to retailers up to 24,000 gallons per calendar year at wholesale prices, provided they first offer products to licensed Alabama wholesalers without acceptance in 45 days or the wholesaler abandons the distribution agreement.

• Allows small wineries to sell bottled wine (labeled or unlabeled) to other small wineries and to acquire in-bond deliveries of winemaking materials from out-of-state producers up to 20 percent of annual production with a $50 annual license fee.

• Permits small wineries to operate tasting rooms (one primary plus five additional locations statewide) and authorizes Sunday wine sales from 12:30 P.M. to 12:00 midnight in counties or municipalities where wine sales are lawful, with no excise tax on tasting room samples but a $0.45 per liter excise tax on distributed wine.

• Establishes a $500 annual small winery license tax and amends Section 28-7-18 of Alabama Code to allow direct retail sales by small wineries while maintaining existing restrictions on other manufacturers.