Colorado has made some very welcome amendments to its “Retail Delivery Fee” (RDF) that promise to make things easier for wineries shipping their wines to Colorado consumers.  Since the fee went into effect in July last year, Colorado has received a great deal of pushback from remote sellers in many industries because of the difficulty and cost of revising POS systems to comply with this new requirement. As originally enacted, the fee was required to be separately itemized on invoices and collected directly from the customer. To further complicate matters, some cities decided to charge sales tax on the RDF.  Colorado heard the complaints and passed a new law, effective July 1, 2023, that will make things easier for out-of-state wineries selling direct to Colorado consumers. The sales threshold will be raised from $100,000 to $500,000 before a winery would be required to collect the RDF. In addition, the RDF will not need to be collected from the customer or shown s

Have you ever spent days or even weeks trying to get information about licensing, label registration or ownership changes from state regulatory agencies? At the Digest of Wine & Spirits Law we understand how frustrating it can be when you have questions, but the people with the answers aren’t available. Cut your research time down to a fraction. The Digest’s website is always available giving you quick access to the answers you need to your compliance questions. Subscribe today and change that frustration of not knowing into the satisfaction of having the right answers, right away. For a demonstration of The Digest, view the video, or contact us to schedule a live screen-share demo. Visit our website or give us a call: 800-400-1353.

As we all know, marketing wine and distilled spirits presents unique challenges. Beverage alcohol marketing requires awareness of trade practice and other laws, including a complex web of federal and state regulations addressing the range of permissible promotional activities. The tricks of the trade in common use for other commodities are often off-limits. Designing legal contests and sweepstakes is one of the more complicated aspects of advertising alcoholic beverages. Some states require pre-approval of these programs; in other states, you’re free to proceed without regulatory review, but may face a violation and fines if your promotion stretched the limits too much. Before you accept your marketing team’s next “great idea,” check the Digest of Wine & Spirits Law. The Digest features an entire section dedicated to trade practice, and specific sub-sections regarding consumer sweepstakes and contests for each state. The Digest gives you the information you

The Digest of Wine and Spirits Law is the essential compliance reference trusted by industry professionals to keep up with the frequent changes to laws and regulations affecting beverage alcohol. The Digest website’s topical organization and powerful features allow subscribers to quickly find relevant information, and stay in-the-know as changes are made. The information in the State Digests can be accessed easily by selecting the state and topic you’re interested in, or by selecting multiple states and multiple topics. The Digest also features a Federal Digest section which includes code sections relevant to the labeling and marketing of beverage alcohol, quoted directly from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Additionally, the Digest site provides a handy list of recent updates. When subscribers are logged in, this list has live links allowing one-click access to updated topics. When a topic has been updated, subscribers can simply click on the date next to the artic

Supplier Beware: Proceed with Caution in Franchise States Beverage alcohol is marketed everywhere in the United States through the three-tier system, with product passing from the supplier to a wholesale middleman and then to a retailer before reaching the end consumer. But every state jurisdiction has its own very unique version of how the system works and is regulated. And in many states (the so-called “franchise states”), the rights and obligations between suppliers and wholesalers are strictly regulated, and can make it very hard to modify or change distributor relationships once established. Supplier beware! The Digest of Wine and Spirits Law helps give you and your legal counsel the information you need when approaching the delicate matter of appointing or changing distributors. On the Digest’s website you can quickly find the laws and regulations regarding wholesaler agreements and franchise requirements in any state. For a demonstration of The Digest, view th

The Digest of Wine and Spirits Law is an essential compliance reference that helps wine and spirits professionals keep up with changes to laws and regulations affecting our industry. Anyone who needs to navigate the requirements for selling and marketing wine and distilled spirits will be benefitted by a subscription to this versatile resource. The Digest’s regulatory content is divided into separate Digests for every state and the District of Columbia, including separate listings in states that have both state-controlled distribution and private-sector distribution. Every State Digest is organized in a standardized, easy-to-follow format. Its information is divided into seventeen major topics and numerous subtopics, all of which are easily searchable on our website. We also offer a similar Federal Digest in which selected sections of the of Federal Regulations (CFR) are included for your convenience. Legal citations are included with the relevant text. These references allow y

The Digest of Wine and Spirits Law team is constantly looking for ways to improve this indispensable reference for wine and spirits professionals. 2022 brought a number of significant changes to federal regulations, and TTB says more are on the way. So, we are happy to announce the expansion of the convenient “compare” feature to the federal digest area. The compare feature already allows subscribers to see what text has been eliminated, and what provisions have been added in each updated state digest. Now the compare feature is also available in the federal digest area, allowing subscribers to see what’s been added or changed. In addition, federal updates have been added to the Recent Updates list on the Digest home page. What does that mean to you? Simply put, subscribers are alerted whenever TTB changes the regulations governing the sale and advertising of wine and spirits, and they can quickly and easily see exactly what's changed. One more great reason to re

RTD cocktails have captured American consumers, with the last two years posting nearly 100% growth among leading brands in this niche category. Many states are drafting and revising laws to adjust to this recent popularity. At The Digest of Wine and Spirits Law we have an ongoing commitment to keep you aware of legal updates that may affect your RTD strategies, including changes in excise tax rates, labeling and advertising regulations, as well as where your products can be sold in the various states. For example, 16 states prohibit the distribution of spirits based RTD cocktails in grocery stores and standard retail channels, while allowing non-spirits based RTD products of comparable or equal ABV% to be sold through multiple retail outlets. Before you commit your production, marketing, and logistics resources to this hot sector of the market, check the Digest for the information and resources you need to make your best business decisions. For a demonstration of The Digest, view the