Rob: As Oklahoma lawmakers reconvene at our state capitol, one of the issues
they will consider this session could well determine the future of
Oklahoma's burgeoning wine industry.
In 2006, Oklahomans voted to allow direct shipments from local wineries to
retail stores and restaurants.
But the amendment was later ruled unconstitutional because
it allowed in-state wineries to sell direct, while out-of-state
operators could not.
A ruling that grape growers say could bottle up the future of
Oklahoma's wine industry.
Our Alisa Hines reports.
Alisa: For Marty Hazelwood, opening the Winery of the Wichitas was
the cork in the bottle.
Marty Hazelwood: I love grapes, love wine, and it just seemed like a natural
thing to do when I retired, because I love wine, and I wanted to be a
winemaker and own a winery.
Alisa: But there's a hiccup in the way Marty can sell her wine.
Hazelwood: It does not make any sense at all to me, why; why, me, as a
winemaker, and an Oklahoman, can send my product out of state to
anyone who wants to buy it, anyone of age who wants to buy it,
in certain states; but I can't even send it to my fellow
Oklahomans who want to buy it.
Alisa: She's referring to a U S Supreme Court ruling that invalidates an
Oklahoma law that allows wineries to ship directly to their customers.
Forcing growers, like Hazelwood, to now sell their wine through
established liquor distributors.
Hazelwood: When you have to give your profit to someone else, just to
distribute your product, it affects your business.
We're fortunate here, in that we're in a tourist area, so we didn't really
expect that distributing was going to be a large part of our market.
But it was definitely, the plan was for it to be part of our market, and now
that's a moot point.
Alisa: And for many rural producers, like Andrew Snyder of Sand Hill
Vineyard, being able to self-distribute would be helpful.
Andrew Snyder: We're so small; there are fifty small boutique wineries
out there, that it's very difficult for us to distribute our product.
And we've actually been handcuffed since that June 15th ruling where now we
can only sell through our tasting rooms which are
remotely located or at festivals.
Alisa: A limitation that could affect entire communities.
According to Gene Clifton, owner of Canadian River Vineyard, wineries are
giving a boost to rural economies.
Gene Clifton: There's been businesses pop up all around us, just because
we're there; to say nothing of the tax base
going up in the local communities.
Economically, tourism and agriculture, that's what this is all about.
Alisa: And lawmakers are listening.
What are the other challenges that, as legislators,
we can help you with?
Alisa: At a recent hearing, wine producers
were able to voice their concerns.
Wine Producer: I live ten miles from Hobart.
Right now, I have a store that sells a little bit for me, a small mom and
pop situation.
I have to drive my case of wine to Oklahoma City.
Then they, here recently, I'm selling my wine for six dollars a bottle.
They delivered that same bottle of wine back to Hobart, Oklahoma, seven
miles from me for eight o five.
Well, I have to go make that sale.
They're not going to sell it for me.
So I have to drive up there and sell it to him,
and then drive it to Oklahoma City.
That's the issue.
That's the gap.
Alisa: A gap that the president of Oklahoma's Grape Growers Association,
Gary Butler, says needs closing.
Gary Butler: There is a gap between the
wholesale system and the small winery.
And because we're such a small volume, and we market differently than
the big wineries, if you're distributing your wine through the wholesale
system nationwide, you've got people out there selling your wine.
You've got people working on building the demand on the consumer side.
Wineries really depend on that personal contact and building relationships, so
when you're doing, you're selling it directly, and you're visiting with those
wineries and making deliveries and finding out what the consumers are
saying and what products are selling and not saying.
There's instant feedback mechanism that's kind of critical for those small
wineries to build their business.
Customer: Let me have the big bottle.
Snyder: Before this June 15th ruling, I myself, just a small, 2,000 case
winery, was in about forty stores in the Oklahoma City area.
I'm about twenty-five miles west of Oklahoma City in El Reno.
And so being in those stores, and that's just a pittance of what I could
if I worked on it, would be able, I'd be able to distribute my product,
sell my product in a way those customers who wanted those products even in
other areas of the state, when I appear at festivals, I could
establish new connections with other retail liquor stores.
So, being able to self-distribute would really help the Oklahoma
grape and wine industry.
Alisa: But because of the federal court ruling, allowing small Oklahoma
wineries to self-distribute would open the door for large
national distributors to bypass state wholesalers
which would hurt their business.
It's no different than the car business or any other business.
If you come at them with some kind of a threat, they're going to react and
all the legislators here will tell you the same thing, if they're really
being honest, they're going to make sure that their business is not
encroached upon.
So I think the challenge, as I see it for wine producers and wineries,
and for the entire industry, is to figure out how to get you up a step
or two without encroaching on them.
Alisa: While also letting a home grown industry thrive.
Snyder: It contributes to the sales tax.
We employ people.
We're doing good things for the state by growing those grapes here,
producing the product here, and then supplying it to consumers who more
and more want to drink wine with their meals.
Alisa: A trend grape growers say will only flourish by the
legislature pruning Oklahoma liquor laws.