On September 30, 2014, the California Governor signed into law Assembly Bill 520, which revises the state’s laws on consumer instructional tastings at on-premises licensed retailers (i.e., bars and restaurants). Prior to the revision, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 25503.5(c) permitted winegrowers, distilled spirits manufacturers, or an “authorized agent” of those licensees to conduct consumer tastings. The new legislation removes the consumer tasting provisions from Section 25503.5 (which now deals only with tastings for licensees and their employees) and creates a stand-alone consumer tasting statute in new Section 25503.57. The new law contains the same essential provisions as the old law, e.g., the event should be instructional in nature and can include information about the history, characteristics, and methods of serving the product; limited to 3 tastings per person, per day; tasting size limited to ¼ oz. for spirits and 1 oz. for wine.

The new law expands the list of licensees authorized to conduct consumer tastings to include a “winegrower, California winegrower’s agent, beer and wine importer general, beer and wine wholesaler, wine rectifier, distilled spirits manufacturer, distilled spirits manufacturer’s agent, distilled spirits importer general, distilled spirits rectifier, distilled spirits general rectifier, rectifier, out-of-state distilled spirits shipper’s certificate holder, distilled spirits wholesaler, brandy manufacturer, brandy importer, or California brandy wholesaler.” The authorized licensee may also use a “designated representative” to conduct a tasting. The law expressly excludes wholesaler/retailer combination licensees (Type 9/17/20) and limited off-sale wine retailer licensees (Type 85).

The new law also clarifies that both authorized licensees and retailers can advertise the events in advance, subject to the usual restrictions (suppliers cannot list prices or include laudatory statements about the retailer – name and address only – and cannot pay for the retailer’s ads). Only one licensee’s products can be promoted at any one time and a “designated representative” can only represent one licensee at a tasting. The new law takes effect January 1, 2015.

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