Posted on 02/08/2004 4:51:51 PM PST by AlbertWang
National Wine Club Puts a Cork in Seattle By REBECCA COOK ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE (AP) - The Wine Brats are taking their toys and going home.
The quirky wine-appreciation club has 30 successful chapters nationwide, but it's closing its chapter in the nation's second-biggest wine-producing state because of a quarrel with the state Liquor Control Board.
Leaders of the nonprofit group apparently failed to follow the steps needed to ship wine in from out of state - but they say they never expected wine-friendly Washington to be such a tough customer.
"It just strikes me as a little bit strange they would so aggressively pursue a group that does nothing but support a large industry in Washington state," said Seattle Wine Brats volunteer Mindy Bomonti.
State regulators say it's a simple case of the Wine Brats not playing by the rules.
"I'm just trying to get people legal," said state liquor agent Steve Hypse. "We didn't demand that they disband or anything."
The club was founded 10 years ago by three Gen-X members of California winemaking families, who wanted to educate people about wine while dispelling the beverage's "snob" aura. It has 42,000 members who get together for wine tastings, parties and dinners.
The Brats seemed a natural fit for Washington state, with its 240 wineries and $2.4 billion wine industry, second in the United States only to California. The 5-year-old Seattle chapter had about 2,000 members.
But the problems started with out-of-state wine. The winemakers who sponsor Wine Brats, based in Santa Rosa, Calif., donated wine that was shipped into Seattle for the chapter's events, and Hypse found out.
"They had no licenses for anything," Hypse said. "I chitchatted with them in California, gave them a list step-by-step of what they needed to do to be registered in the state of Washington, so they could legally get wine shipped to them."
The club tried to register with the secretary of state, but was told it needed a physical address in Washington, which it doesn't have and doesn't want, said Steve Richardson, the national executive director. The Wine Brats has three paid staff members in Santa Rosa, and volunteers run the local chapters.
"It was confusing," said the main Seattle volunteer, publicist Lori Randall. "It seems to me they made it as difficult as possible."
Richardson said the club is registered nationally as a tax-exempt group, and no other states have raised any questions.
But Hypse said he's worked successfully with other wine groups to get them sorted out legally.
"I'm supposed to be a resource to assist people in getting properly licensed, not to beat people up," he said. "The more licenses we have out there, the happier the state is."
The dean of Washington wine groups, the 29-year-old Seattle chapter of the Northwest Enological Society, long ago mastered the permit and license process, said society officer Len Bates.
"I think it's rather user-friendly," Bates said of the state's regulatory system.
One reason the internet has done well is that we have kept the money grubbing mid level "Public Servents" out of the mix. By the time you have all your permits and file all the required forms being in business just isn't worth the pain.
The sole reason the Government exists is to collect taxes.
You have hit upon a universal truth!!
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