Winery

Steve and Mimi Becker, owners of Toy Box Catering, have dealt with the limitations of Kentucky's local option laws for years. Even in the midst of change, however, their struggle has been frustrating. They won one battle, but decided to forfeit another. After Danville's alcohol-by-the-drink vote passed in 2003, the local caterers discovered that they couldn't apply for licenses to serve at catered functions in their own communities. However, caterers from out of town who already had licenses could come to Danville and serve at the same functions.

The fate of packaged beer sales in Boyle County has been handed to the state House of Representatives after a bill to restrict those sales at wineries was passed by state senators Friday. Under the bill, wineries would be allowed to serve beer on the premises, but wouldn't be able to sell packaged beer. It targets a winery in Danville which holds a malt beverage license and sells beer by the case. Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, voted for the bill, although his amendment that precincts vote whether to allow beer sales was defeated.

March 8 will go down in history as a "tragic day" for Boyle and neighboring counties and a "great day" for liquor store owners in Lawrenceburg and the "narrow-minded" in Danville, Andrew Brousseau, co-owner of the Old Crow Inn, said today. Brousseau was reacting to the state Senate's final passage last Tuesday of Senate Bill 73, which would allow small and farm wineries to serve beer and other malt beverages on the premises but would prohibit the sale of packaged beer. On Feb. 14, the Senate voted for the bill and then handed it to the House.

If the bill to restrict package beer sales at wineries becomes law then the winery at Old Crow Inn would have to stop selling cases of beer, according to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Executive Director John Clay said that the bill would have to include a grandfather clause to allow package sales at the Danville winery to continue. Right now it does not. If the bill passes, the winery would still be able to sell beer for consumption on the premises. The bill is in the House of Representatives Licensing and Occupation committee.

Dowtown Winchester will host 10 Kentucky small farm wineries Thursday as part of the annual Wine About Winter event. Winchester First Director Tim Janes said it is the most wineries ever represented at Wine About Winter, now in its fourth year. “It's an opportunity to sample some Kentucky wine, and to enjoy beautiful, historic downtown Winchester on a winter evening,” Janes said. In addition to the wine samples, local businesses will offer special sales and merchandise.

Dear Editor: Several years ago, alcohol merchants began to look to rural Kentucky as a market for their products. Local restaurateurs, grocery store owners, and entrepreneurs began to have dollar signs dance in their brains. So the vote was put to the people, and in most communities the people said no. Then the Kentucky General Assembly got involved and they began to tinker with the wet-dry law. One of the new versions involved precinct voting and the establishment of local wineries.

Kathy and Harky Edwards showed off their business, the Harkness Edwards Winery & Vineyards, during the Clark County Farm Bureau Agriculture Day on Thursday. Approximately 75 attended the tour, which visited three farms to see alfalfa hay-baling demonstrations on Combs Ferry Road, the winery and vineyards, and goat milk and cheese production on Grimes Mill Road.

Let's see if we've got this straight: Three years ago, Andre Brousseau convinced Danville voters to approve the sale of wine at his Chateau du Vieux Corbeau Winery by telling them only wine would be sold there. Today, he does a million-dollar business in selling beer by the case. All right, it's a free country, and in the spirit of the entrepreneur, Brousseau is simply trying to maximize his profits by selling beer at his winery - even though that's not what he said he was going to do when he sought voter approval.

AN ACT relating to wineries. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: Section 1. KRS 243.155 is amended to read as follows: (1) A small winery license shall authorize the licensee to perform the following functions without having to obtain separate licenses, except that each off-premises retail site shall be separately licensed: (a) Manufacture wines and bottle wines produced by that small winery in an amount not to exceed fifty thousand (50,000)

The Chateau du Vieux Corbeau Winery has released its latest wine, a semi-sweet Kentucky Proud Strawberry Wine. This new wine joins the other award-winning wines produced by Dominique Brousseau, the youngest wine-maker in the state. This totally strawberry creation joins the other 100 percent berry wines in its appeal to those who enjoy unique, first-class wines. Brousseau, who believes great wine is produced in the field (or patch, in this case), searches Kentucky for the best strawberries in the area.