Direct to restaurant out of state?

Can a winery in California sell direct to a restaurant in Minnesota?

Are there creative ways to get legal distribution for an ongoing relationship? Are wineries interested in these types of things or is it too much of a hassle?

Thanks.

Not legal. Restaurants (and retailers) in Minnesota can only buy from a licensed Minnesota wholesaler.

Illinois has that sort of licensing available, but I think they are unusual in that regard.

What I have done in the past is talk to the restaurant who wants your wine, and ask them if they have a distributor who will “pass the transaction through”. Generally, if they have a good relationship with a distributor, the distributor will do all the work to get your wine in through them, and charge a small fee (rather than the normal distribution/retailer markups).

Anyone have a lead on a distributor willing to play ball like this in Kansas City (Kansas/Missouri)?

I think it would be a lot easier to have the place that wants to buy from you work it out rather than trying to do so yourself, for many reasons.

i suppose that if a winery had a Wine Club and the proprietor of a restaurant was a member of the Wine Club that he could purchase wine directly from the winery and place it on his wine list.

not that i’ve ever heard of something like that taking place.

I don’t think thats legal but it does happen with some highly allocated or 100% DTC wineries though it is rare.

agreed. i’m not sure of the ins-and-outs of the laws as they vary state to state. i know that in CA sometimes wineries who use distributors/brokers may have “house accounts” (e.g. restaurants, wine bars) which they service directly (billing, deliveries, etc.).

I do that the reason we can do it in CA is that wine wine is made in CA. With a winery type 02 bond you can sell direct to consumers, restaurants, wine shops in the state. Though most still use brokers, distributors, etc for many reasons. Out of state is another matter entirely as its got to go thru the 3-4 tier system for restaurants, wine shops. There is another set of permits for direct shipping to consumers.

Ahh, so a winery that does DTC out of state might not have the permit to do direct-to-restaurant out of state?

Correct. The only direct to trade state I have looked in to was AZ a few years back and we did not more forward though I don’t recall specifics as to exactly why.

I use this site to keep up on things, they list all the permits, taxes, and any special reporting needs for each state just click on the state you want the info for.
http://www.wineinstitute.org/initiatives/stateshippinglaws