| 2/24/2006 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Senate leader kills wine shipping compromise
Donovan Estridge
Courier Staff Writer
After months of negotiating and compromising, a bill limiting direct shipping for Indiana wineries was killed Thursday night by the Senate leader. His action took Jefferson County winery owners by surprise.
The bill was killed by Senate Pro Tem Robert Garton, R-Columbus, because of a pending lawsuit on the issue. The lawsuit, Baud vs. Indiana, challenges the state’s three-tier system for wine shipping. Garton said he killed the bill so the Senate would not become involved in deciding the outcome of lawsuits.
On Wednesday, local winemakers traveled to Indianapolis to attend a Senate Commerce and Transportation committee hearing on the bill. During the four-hour committee meeting, a compromise was reached between state wineries and wholesalers that would allow wineries to continue shipping their products.
“This is a total left-field surprise,” Thomas Family Winery owner Steven Thomas said this morning. “I am absolutely 100 percent surprised. I walked in this morning and haven’t been able to drink my coffee yet.”
Thomas and Madison Vineyards owners Sandy and Steve Palmer were in Indianapolis when a compromise was reached Wednesday. After the committee hearing, they claimed victory for the wine industry. The victory was short-lived, though, when the bill was killed 24 hours later.
“We are now at the mercy of the courts,” Sandy Palmer said.
As local wineries try to piece together the facts behind the legislative action, they must sift through unknown territory. During the committee hearing Wednesday, wholesalers and winemakers agreed that if no legislative action is taken, the state’s wine industry will enter a quagmire of litigation.
Tom Weatherwax, R-Logansport, co-sponsor of HB 1190, feared what might happen if no action is taken on the bill during the General Assembly. Because of the lawsuit, the courts have granted a temporary injunction with local wineries that will be lifted March 1. The injunction allowed wineries to continue direct shipping, thus not participating in a three-tier system. Weatherwax and wholesalers feared that if no action was taken, wineries could be forced to stop direct shipping after the first of the month.
“We could see one extreme or another,” Weatherwax said. “It is going to be all or nothing.”
The Palmers and Thomas said it is too early to tell if killing of the bill is good or bad. Sandy Palmer said some wineries will be drastically hurt if direct shipping is banned.
“We should be fine,”she said. “This would hurt us in a small percentage of services. Ridge Winery in Switzerland County would be one of the wineries hurt by this action.”
The fight to protect Indiana wineries will continue with news of the bill. Both wineries pledged to continue the fight to save their business.
“If nothing happens, we will be back in Indianapolis in a year,” Thomas said.
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