WA State Label Approval Requirement Eliminated

GREAT NEWS!

At its meeting last Wednesday, August 19, the Washington State Liquor Control Board voted to stop requiring state label approvals. Family Wineries of Washington State has been advocating for this change ever since the Costco lawsuit ended price posting in Washington State. In testimony to last year’s Joint Select Committee, FWWS pointed out that, since the price posting system was being eliminated, and since product approval codes would therefore no longer be required, the State label approval process was now largely redundant. We were the only stakeholder to point this out. Subsequently, Board President Paul Beveridge raised this issue with WSLCB staff at a conference regarding Washington State Wine Law held at Cave B Winery. The FWWS Board is very pleased that the Liquor Board made this positive change on its own and that legislative action was not necessary. Now wineries will be able to market their wines in Washington immediately upon receiving federal label approval. Elimination of the state label approval requirement is a perfect example of what FWWS seeks to accomplish in the way of reducing the paperwork burdens on small family wineries.

We are making progress!