S.C. Code § 61-4-748

Current through 2024 Act No. 120.

Section 61-4-748 - Certain wineries eligible for satellite location certificates

(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the holder of a valid winery license that, on or after January 1, 2021, invests four hundred million dollars in this State in a Tier III or Tier IV county, as designated by the Department of Revenue pursuant to Section 12-6-3360(B), at the time of the public announcement of the project or upon reaching such investment and job requirement thresholds, and creates at least three hundred new jobs in this State, is eligible for a manufacturer's satellite certificate to establish up to three wholly owned satellite locations for tasting and sale of wine produced or imported as the primary American source of supply, provided that:

(1) before commencing operations at any wholly owned satellite location, the holder of a valid winery license must first have satisfied all applicable investment and job requirement thresholds;

(2) a winery producing or bottling at least ten million gallons of wine and alcoholic beverages per calendar year in this State may operate one tasting-room premises;

(3) a winery producing or bottling at least twenty million gallons of wine and alcoholic beverages per calendar year in this State may operate two tasting-room premises;

(4) a winery producing or bottling at least thirty million gallons of wine and alcoholic beverages per calendar year in this State may operate three tasting-room premises;

(5) the winery submits, and the department approves, separate applications for each tasting-room premises to be issued a permit, as provided by Sections 61-2-90 and 61-2-140(C);

(6) the winery must pay a biennial tasting-room permit fee of five thousand dollars per tasting-room premises;

(7) no more than one tasting-room premises shall be permitted in any one county of this State;

(8) the winery may conduct tastings of or sell only wine that is (a) produced or bottled by the winery within or outside of this State, (b) produced for or produced and packaged for the winery within or outside of this State and sold under a brand name owned by the winery, or (c) wine for which the winery is the exclusive agent in the United States of an out-of-state vintner;

(9) the winery must sell wine for off-premises consumption at a tasting-room premises at a price approximating retail prices generally charged for identical wine in the county where the tasting-room premises is located;

(10) the winery must charge a consumer a tasting fee to participate in a tasting or the consumer may not purchase any wine for off-premises consumption;

(11) the winery shall remit applicable sales, use, and other state taxes and local taxes for each tasting-room premises. The winery shall maintain adequate records for each tasting-room premises to ensure the collection of these taxes;

(12) all wine to be handled, tasted, or sold at a tasting-room premises must be purchased from licensed wholesalers and transported and delivered to the licensed tasting-room premises only by licensed South Carolina wholesalers;

(13) the winery must maintain all liability insurance required pursuant to Section 61-2-145; and

(14) tastings and sales shall not be offered or made to, or allowed to be offered, made to, or consumed by an intoxicated person or a person who is under the age of twenty-one.

(B) In addition to the provisions set forth in subsection (A), a winery holding one or more tasting-room permits must not provide or sell to an individual consumer at a tasting-room premises:

(1) more than ten ounces of wine in one day for on-premises consumption, including any samples offered and consumed; or

(2) more than the equivalent of six 750-milliliter bottles of wine each calendar month to an individual consumer for off-premises consumption and not for resale.

(C) Tasting rooms authorized in this section must close to the public at 5:30 p.m. and may not open to the public until 8:00 a.m.

(D) Each tasting-room permit application is subject to protest, as provided for in Section 61-4-525 for beer and wine permit applications.

(E) The holder of a tasting-room permit who violates a provision of this section is subject to the penalties specified in Section 61-4-250.

(F) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to prohibit or restrict a winery that also holds a brewery, micro-distillery, or liquor manufacturer's license from applying for or holding any license or permit that is available to other licensed breweries, micro-distilleries, or liquor manufacturers in this State and that allows the tasting or sales of beer or alcoholic liquors.

(G) Authorization by this section of sales and tastings at a tasting-room premises is expressly intended for the promotion of education regarding production of wine in the State and not to create competition between producers and retailers.

S.C. Code § 61-4-748

Added by 2021 S.C. Acts, Act No. 60 (SB 619),s 3, eff. 5/17/2021.

2021 Act No. 60, Sections 1 and 11, provide as follows:

"SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds and declares that:

"(A) The State has a substantial interest in regulating alcoholic liquors and other beverages containing alcohol; the activities of manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers; and the influences that affect the consumption levels of alcoholic liquors and other beverages containing alcohol by the people of the State.

"(B) The State has a substantial interest in exercising its police power to promote the public health, safety, and welfare of the State by regulating the business of manufacturing, distributing, and retail sales of alcoholic liquors and other beverages containing alcohol in the manner and to the extent allowed by law to promote and preserve public health and safety through legitimate, nonprotectionist measures, which include regulating and controlling alcoholic beverage transactions in this State and the means and manner in which licensed micro-distilleries and alcoholic liquor manufacturers may sell alcoholic beverages to the state's qualifying consumers.

"(C) Selling alcoholic liquors from manufacturers outside the State directly to residents of this State poses a serious threat to the state's efforts to prevent underage drinking, to state revenue collections, and to the public health and safety of the state's residents.

"(D) By this act, the General Assembly intends to promote the public health, safety, and welfare of residents of this State with laws intended to strictly regulate alcoholic liquors and other beverages containing alcohol by preserving and promoting a robust, stable system of distribution of beverages containing alcohol to the public that does not provide for economic protectionism. Excessive use of alcoholic liquors and other beverages containing alcohol has wide-ranging deleterious health effects, including death. The General Assembly acknowledges that, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control, during the period from 2011 to 2015, an average of one thousand six hundred seventy-nine of this state's residents suffered alcohol attributed deaths due to excessive alcohol use and the rate of binge drinking in this State is ranked among the highest in the nation. The General Assembly acknowledges that, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, this State had two hundred eighty-five alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2019, which accounted for twenty-eight percent of the total traffic fatalities in the State. Attributed deaths due to alcohol-impaired driving in this State is ranked among the highest in the nation.

"(E) This act has been enacted pursuant to the authority granted to the State by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the powers reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the inherent powers of the State under the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, 1895, and the statutes promulgated thereunder. It is the intent of the General Assembly that this act do all of the following:

"(1) further regulate and control transactions in this State as to beverages containing alcohol under the control and supervision of the Department of Revenue;

"(2) strictly regulate alcoholic beverage transactions by fostering moderation and responsibility in the use and consumption of beverages containing alcohol;

"(3) promote and assure the public's interest in fair and efficient distribution and quality control of alcoholic beverages in this State;

"(4) promote orderly marketing of alcoholic beverages;

"(5) prevent unfair business practices, discrimination, and undue control of one segment of the alcoholic beverage industry by any other segment;

"(6) foster vigorous and healthy competition in the alcoholic beverage industry and protect the interests of consumers against fraud and misleading practices in the sale of alcoholic beverages, and avoid problems associated with indiscriminate price cutting and excessive advertising of alcoholic beverages;

"(7) provide for an orderly system of public revenues by facilitating the collection and accountability of this State and local excise taxes;

"(8) facilitate the collection of state and local revenue;

"(9) maintain trade stability and provide for the continuation of control and orderly processing by the State over the regulation of alcoholic beverage manufacturing locations and the process of selling alcoholic beverages to the state's consumers;

"(10) ensure that the Department of Revenue and State Law Enforcement Division are able to monitor licensed operations through on-site inspections to confirm compliance with state law and that any alcoholic beverages shipped into, distributed, and sold throughout this State:

"(a) have been registered for sale in this State with the Department of Revenue, as prescribed by law;

"(b) are not subject to a government-mandated or supplier-initiated recall;

"(c) are not counterfeit;

"(d) are labeled in conformance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations;

"(e) can be inspected and tested by the Department of Revenue or the State Law Enforcement Division; and

"(f) are not prohibited by this State;

"(11) promote and maintain a sound, stable, and viable three-tier system of distribution of beverages containing alcohol to the public; and

"(12) ensure that statutes and regulations relating to alcoholic beverages exist to serve the interests of the State of South Carolina and its citizens rather than to serve or protect the interests of market participants by adopting protectionist measures with no demonstrable connection to the state's legitimate interests in regulating alcoholic beverages."

"SECTION 11. A state agency with regulations specifying alcohol content percentages different from the percentages passed in this act must promulgate revised regulations to conform to the changes in this act. Until such time as the regulations are conformed, the percentages in the statutory provisions passed in this act supersede any differing percentages in the regulations."