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2000 SESSION


CHAPTER 786
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 4.1-100, 4.1-201 and 4.1-207 of the Code of Virginia, relating to alcoholic beverage control; farm wineries.
[S 591]
Approved April 9, 2000

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 4.1-100, 4.1-201 and 4.1-207 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 4.1-100. Definitions.

As used in this title unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Alcohol" means the product known as ethyl or grain alcohol obtained by distillation of any fermented liquor, rectified either once or more often, whatever the origin, and shall include synthetic ethyl alcohol, but shall not include methyl alcohol and alcohol completely denatured in accordance with formulas approved by the government of the United States.

"Alcoholic beverages" includes alcohol, spirits, wine, and beer, and any one or more of such varieties containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, including mixed alcoholic beverages, and every liquid or solid, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine, or beer and capable of being consumed by a human being. Any liquid or solid containing more than one of the four varieties shall be considered as belonging to that variety which has the higher percentage of alcohol, however obtained, according to the order in which they are set forth in this definition.

"Barrel" means any container or vessel having a capacity of more than forty-three ounces.

"Bed and breakfast establishment" means any establishment (i) having no more than fifteen bedrooms; (ii) offering to the public, for compensation, transitory lodging or sleeping accommodations; and (iii) offering at least one meal per day, which may but need not be breakfast, to each person to whom overnight lodging is provided.

"Beer" means any alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of an infusion or decoction of barley, malt, and hops or of any similar products in drinkable water and containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume.

"Board" means the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

"Bottle" means any vessel intended to contain liquids and having a capacity of not more than forty-three ounces.

"Club" means any private nonprofit corporation or association which is the owner, lessee, or occupant of an establishment operated solely for a national, social, patriotic, political, athletic, or other like purpose, but not for pecuniary gain, the advantages of which belong to all of the members. It also means the establishment so operated. A corporation or association shall not lose its status as a club because of the conduct of charitable gaming conducted pursuant to Article 1.1:1 (§ 18.2-340.15 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 18.2 in which nonmembers participate frequently or in large numbers, provided that no alcoholic beverages are served or consumed in the room where such charitable gaming is being conducted while such gaming is being conducted and that no alcoholic beverages are made available upon the premises to any person who is neither a member nor a bona fide guest of a member.

Any such corporation or association which has been declared exempt from federal and state income taxes as one which is not organized and operated for pecuniary gain or profit shall be deemed a nonprofit corporation or association.

"Container" means any barrel, bottle, carton, keg, vessel or other receptacle used for holding alcoholic beverages.

"Convenience grocery store" means an establishment which (i) has an enclosed room in a permanent structure where stock is displayed and offered for sale and (ii) maintains an inventory of edible items intended for human consumption consisting of a variety of such items of the types normally sold in grocery stores.

"Designated area" means a room or area approved by the Board for on-premises licensees.

"Dining area" means a public room or area in which meals are regularly served.

"Establishment" means any place where alcoholic beverages of one or more varieties are lawfully manufactured, sold, or used.

"Farm winery" means an establishment located on a farm in the Commonwealth with a producing vineyard, orchard, or similar growing area and with facilities for fermenting and bottling wine on the premises where the owner or lessee manufactures wine that contains not more than fourteen eighteen percent alcohol by volume. As used in this definition, the terms "owner" and "lessee" shall include a cooperative formed by an association of individuals for the purpose of manufacturing wine. In the event such cooperative is licensed as a farm winery, the term "farm" as used in this definition includes all of the land owned or leased by the individual members of the cooperative as long as such land is located in the Commonwealth.

"Gift shop" means any bona fide retail store selling, predominantly, gifts, books, souvenirs, specialty items relating to history, original and handmade arts and products, collectibles, crafts, and floral arrangements, which is open to the public on a regular basis. Such shop shall be a permanent structure where stock is displayed and offered for sale and which has facilities to properly secure any stock of wine or beer. Such shop may be located (i) on the premises or grounds of a government registered national, state or local historic building or site or (ii) within the premises of a museum. The Board shall consider the purpose, characteristics, nature, and operation of the shop in determining whether it shall be considered a gift shop.

"Gourmet brewing shop" means an establishment which sells to persons to whom wine or beer may lawfully be sold, ingredients for making wine or brewing beer, including packaging, and rents to such persons facilities for manufacturing, fermenting and bottling such wine or beer.

"Gourmet shop" means an establishment provided with adequate inventory, shelving, and storage facilities, where, in consideration of payment, substantial amounts of domestic and imported wines and beers of various types and sizes and related products such as cheeses and gourmet foods are habitually furnished to persons.

"Government store" means a store established by the Board for the sale of alcoholic beverages.

"Hotel" means any duly licensed establishment, provided with special space and accommodation, where, in consideration of payment, food and lodging are habitually furnished to persons, and which has four or more bedrooms. It shall also mean the person who operates such hotel.

"Interdicted person" means a person to whom the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited by order pursuant to this title.

"Intoxicated" means a condition in which a person has drunk enough alcoholic beverages to observably affect his manner, disposition, speech, muscular movement, general appearance or behavior.

"Licensed" means the holding of a valid license issued by the Board.

"Licensee" means any person to whom a license has been granted by the Board.

"Low alcohol beverage cooler" means a drink containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, but not more than seven and one-half percent alcohol by volume, and consisting of spirits mixed with nonalcoholic beverages or flavoring or coloring materials; it may also contain water, fruit juices, fruit adjuncts, sugar, carbon dioxide, preservatives or other similar products manufactured by fermenting fruit or fruit juices. Low alcohol beverage coolers shall be treated as wine for all purposes of this title; except that low alcohol beverage coolers shall not be sold in localities that have not approved the sale of mixed beverages pursuant to § 4.1-124. In addition, low alcohol beverage coolers shall not be sold for on-premises consumption other than by mixed beverage licensees.

"Meals" means, for a mixed beverage license, an assortment of foods commonly ordered in bona fide, full-service restaurants as principal meals of the day. Such restaurants shall include establishments specializing in full course meals with a single substantial entree.

"Member of a club" means (i) a person who maintains his membership in the club by the payment of monthly, quarterly, or annual dues in the manner established by the rules and regulations thereof or (ii) a person who is a member of a bona fide auxiliary, local chapter, or squadron composed of direct lineal descendants of a bona fide member, whether alive or deceased, of a national or international organization to which an individual lodge holding a club license is an authorized member in the same locality. It shall also mean a lifetime member whose financial contribution is not less than ten times the annual dues of resident members of the club, the full amount of such contribution being paid in advance in a lump sum.

"Mixed beverage" or "mixed alcoholic beverage" means a drink composed in whole or in part of spirits.

"Mixer" means any prepackaged ingredients containing beverages or flavoring or coloring materials, and which may also contain water, fruit juices, fruit adjuncts, sugar, carbon dioxide, or preservatives which are not commonly consumed unless combined with alcoholic beverages, whether or not such ingredients contain alcohol. Such specialty beverage product shall be manufactured or distributed by a Virginia corporation.

"Place or premises" means the real estate, together with any buildings or other improvements thereon, designated in the application for a license as the place at which the manufacture, bottling, distribution, use or sale of alcoholic beverages shall be performed, except that portion of any such building or other improvement actually and exclusively used as a private residence.

"Public place" means any place, building, or conveyance to which the public has, or is permitted to have, access, including restaurants, soda fountains, hotel dining areas, lobbies, and corridors of hotels, and any highway, street, lane, park, or place of public resort or amusement.

The term shall not include (i) hotel or restaurant dining areas or ballrooms while in use for private meetings or private parties limited in attendance to members and guests of a particular group, association or organization; (ii) restaurants licensed by the Board in office buildings or industrial or similar facilities while such restaurant is closed to the public and in use for private meetings or parties limited in attendance to employees and nonpaying guests of the owner or a lessee of all or part of such building or facility; (iii) offices, office buildings or industrial facilities while closed to the public and in use for private meetings or parties limited in attendance to employees and nonpaying guests of the owner or a lessee of all or part of such building or facility; or (iv) private recreational or chartered boats which are not licensed by the Board and on which alcoholic beverages are not sold.

"Residence" means any building or part of a building or structure where a person resides, but does not include any part of a building which is not actually and exclusively used as a private residence, nor any part of a hotel or club other than a private guest room thereof.

"Resort complex" means a facility (i) with a hotel owning year-round sports and recreational facilities located contiguously on the same property or (ii) owned by a nonstock, nonprofit, taxable corporation with voluntary membership which, as its primary function, makes available golf, ski and other recreational facilities both to its members and the general public. The hotel or corporation shall have a minimum of 140 private guest rooms or dwelling units contained on not less than 50 acres. The Board may consider the purpose, characteristics, and operation of the applicant establishment in determining whether it shall be considered as a resort complex. All other pertinent qualifications established by the Board for a hotel operation shall be observed by such licensee.

"Restaurant" means, for a beer, or wine and beer license, any establishment provided with special space and accommodation, where, in consideration of payment, meals or other foods prepared on the premises are regularly sold.

"Restaurant" means, for a mixed beverage license, an established place of business (i) where meals with substantial entrees are regularly sold and (ii) which has adequate facilities and sufficient employees for cooking, preparing, and serving such meals for consumption at tables in dining areas on the premises, and includes establishments specializing in full course meals with a single substantial entree.

"Sale" and "sell" includes soliciting or receiving an order for; keeping, offering or exposing for sale; peddling, exchanging or bartering; or delivering otherwise than gratuitously, by any means, alcoholic beverages.

"Special agent" means an employee of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control whom the Board has designated as a law-enforcement officer pursuant to § 4.1-105.

"Special event" means an event sponsored by a duly organized nonprofit corporation or association and conducted for an athletic, charitable, civic, educational, political, or religious purpose.

"Spirits" means any beverage which contains alcohol obtained by distillation mixed with drinkable water and other substances, in solution, and includes, among other things, brandy, rum, whiskey, and gin, or any one or more of the last four named ingredients; but shall not include any such liquors completely denatured in accordance with formulas approved by the United States government.

"Wine" means any alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of the natural sugar content of fruits or other agricultural products containing (i) sugar, including honey and milk, either with or without additional sugar; (ii) one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume; and (iii) no product of distillation. The term includes any wine to which wine spirits have been added, as provided in the Internal Revenue Code, to make products commonly known as "fortified wine" which do not exceed an alcohol content of twenty-one percent by volume.

"Wine cooler" means a drink containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, and not more than three and two-tenths percent of alcohol by weight or four percent by volume consisting of wine mixed with nonalcoholic beverages or flavoring or coloring materials, and which may also contain water, fruit juices, fruit adjuncts, sugar, carbon dioxide, or preservatives and shall include other similar products manufactured by fermenting fruit or fruit juices. Wine coolers and similar fermented fruit juice beverages shall be treated as wine for all purposes except for taxation under § 4.1-236.

"With or without meals" means the selling and serving of alcoholic beverages by retail licensees for on-premises consumption whether or not accompanied by food so long as the total food-beverage ratio required by § 4.1-210, or the monthly food sale requirement established by Board regulation, is met by such retail licensee.

§ 4.1-201. Conduct not prohibited by this chapter; limitation.

A. This chapter shall not prohibit:

1. Any club licensed under this chapter from keeping for consumption by its members any alcoholic beverages lawfully acquired by such members, provided the alcoholic beverages are not sold, dispensed or given away in violation of this title.

2. Any person from having grain, fruit or fruit products and any other substance, when grown or lawfully produced by him, distilled by any distillery licensee, and selling the distilled alcoholic beverages to the Board or selling or shipping them to any person outside of the Commonwealth in accordance with Board regulations. However, no alcoholic beverages so distilled shall be withdrawn from the place where distilled except in accordance with Board regulations.

3. Any person licensed to manufacture and sell, or either, in the Commonwealth or elsewhere, alcoholic beverages other than wine or beer, from soliciting and taking orders from the Board for such alcoholic beverages.

4. The receipt by a person operating a licensed brewery of deliveries and shipments of beer in closed containers from other breweries owned by such person or the sale, delivery or shipment of such beer, in accordance with Board regulations to (i) persons licensed to sell beer at wholesale, (ii) persons licensed to sell beer at retail for the purpose of resale only as provided in subdivision B 4 of § 4.1-216, (iii) owners of boats registered under the laws of the United States sailing for ports of call of a foreign country or another state, and (iv) persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth.

5. The granting of any retail license to a brewery or winery licensee, or to an applicant for such license, or to a lessee of such person, a wholly owned subsidiary of such person, or its lessee, provided the places of business or establishments for which the retail licenses are desired are located upon the premises occupied or to be occupied by such winery or brewery, or upon property of such person contiguous to such premises, or in a development contiguous to such premises owned and operated by such person or a wholly owned subsidiary.

6. The receipt by a distillery licensee of deliveries and shipments of alcoholic beverages, other than wine and beer, in closed containers from other distilleries, or the sale, delivery or shipment of such alcoholic beverages, in accordance with Board regulations, to the Board and to persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth.

7. The receipt by a winery licensee of deliveries and shipments of (i) wine in closed containers from other wineries owned by such licensee or (ii) the receipt by a winery licensee or farm winery licensee of deliveries and shipments of spirits distilled from fruit or fruit juices in closed containers from distilleries to be used only for the fortification of wine produced by the licensee in accordance with Board regulations, or the sale, delivery or shipment of such wine, in accordance with Board regulations, to persons licensed to sell wine at wholesale for the purpose of resale, and to persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth.

8. The receipt by a fruit distillery licensee of deliveries and shipments of alcoholic beverages made from fruit or fruit juices in closed containers from other fruit distilleries owned by such licensee, or the sale, delivery or shipment of such alcoholic beverages, in accordance with Board regulations, to persons outside of the Commonwealth for resale outside of the Commonwealth.

9. Any farm winery licensee from shipping or delivering its wine in closed containers to another farm winery licensee for the purpose of additional bottling in accordance with Board regulations and the return of the wine so bottled to the manufacturing farm winery licensee.

B. No deliveries or shipments of alcoholic beverages to persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth shall be made into any state the laws of which prohibit the consignee from receiving or selling the same.

§ 4.1-207. Wine licenses.

The Board may grant the following licenses relating to wine:

1. Winery licenses, which shall authorize the licensee to manufacture wine and to sell and deliver or ship the wine, in accordance with Board regulations, in closed containers, to persons licensed to sell the wine so manufactured at wholesale for the purpose of resale, and to persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth. In addition, such license shall authorize the licensee to operate distilling equipment on the premises of the licensee in the manufacture of spirits from fruit or fruit juices only, which shall be used only for the fortification of wine produced by the licensee.

2. Wholesale wine licenses, which shall authorize the licensee to acquire and receive deliveries and shipments of wine and to sell and deliver or ship the wine, in accordance with Board regulations, in closed containers, to (i) persons licensed to sell such wine in the Commonwealth, (ii) persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth, (iii) religious congregations for use only for sacramental purposes, and (iv) owners of boats registered under the laws of the United States sailing for ports of call of a foreign country or another state.

No wholesale wine licensee shall purchase wine for resale from a person outside the Commonwealth who does not hold a wine importer's license unless such wholesale wine licensee holds a wine importer's license and purchases wine for resale pursuant to the privileges of such wine importer's license.

3. Wine importers' licenses, which shall authorize persons located within or outside the Commonwealth to sell and deliver or ship wine, in accordance with Board regulations, in closed containers, to persons in the Commonwealth licensed to sell wine at wholesale for the purpose of resale, and to persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth.

4. Retail off-premises winery licenses to persons holding winery licenses, which shall authorize the licensee to sell wine at the place of business designated in the winery license, in closed containers, for off-premises consumption and to deliver or ship the wine to the purchasers in accordance with Board regulations.

5. Farm winery licenses, which shall authorize the licensee to manufacture wine containing fourteen eighteen percent or less of alcohol by volume and to sell, deliver or ship the wine, in accordance with Board regulations, in closed containers, to (i) the Board, (ii) persons licensed to sell the wine so manufactured at wholesale or retail for the purpose of resale, § 4.1-326 notwithstanding, or (iii) persons outside the Commonwealth. In addition, the licensee may acquire and receive deliveries and shipments of wine manufactured by the licensee and to sell and deliver or ship this wine, in accordance with Board regulations, to persons licensed to sell wine in the Commonwealth, § 4.1-326 notwithstanding.

Such licenses shall also authorize the licensee to sell wine at retail at the places of business designated in the licenses, which may include no more than two additional retail establishments of the licensee. Wine may be sold at these business places for on-premises consumption and in closed containers for off-premises consumption, including delivery and shipment of such wine to purchasers in accordance with Board regulations.