Governor Inslee Stay Home, Stay Safe Order Update

March 24, 2020 - WWI News

Thank you for your patience as we worked closely with the Washington State Wine Commission, Washington Winegrowers, and the WSLCB to confirm what Governor Jay Inslee’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order means for wineries. As a reminder, this order:

  1. Requires every Washingtonian to stay home unless they need to pursue an essential activity.
  2. Bans all gatherings for social, spiritual and recreational purposes.
  3. Closes all businesses except essential businesses within 48 hours after the order is signed.

We are happy to report that we, in coordination with legal counsel Emily Gant at Foster Garvey, confirmed with the WSLCB this morning that we may continue all currently allowed winery activities, as the wine industry falls under the “essential workforce” category of agriculture.There is one additional permission now needed for curbside sales, please see below under “winery allowances.”

RESTRICTIONS

  1. All wineries and tasting rooms must be closed for in-person tastings and events.

ALLOWANCES

The following is permitted:

  1. Wine bottle/case sales to-go. You are permitted to allow customers into your tasting room or winery to purchase wine bottles to-go, or pickup online/phone purchases.
  2. (Adjacent to Winery/Tasting Room Premise) Curbside sales and deliveries. To do sales of wine on the curbside or similar location adjacent to the winery and technically off your licensed premise, you can request curbside delivery by submitting the Added Activities form. You will need to handwrite the request for curbside delivery privileges on the form. Send the form to nonretailliquorlicensing@lcb.wa.gov. 
  3. All deliveries, including direct from winery to customer. If you currently have delivery privileges, you may continue to deliver product now. If not, you can request delivery privileges by submitting the Added Activities form. Please send the form to nonretailliquorlicensing@lcb.wa.gov.  
  4. Winery production activities.
  5. Vineyard activities.
  6. Wholesale activities. Returns of alcohol from a business to a distributor.

Please remember that all current activity must meet proper social distancing recommendations. While to-go orders are still permitted, here are a few suggestions for social distancing:

  1. Encourage customers to call in their orders before they arrive.
  2. Make any transactions swiftly.
  3. When customers arrive to pick-up, have them wait in line 6 feet apart.
  4. Encourage customers to wait in their vehicles and you can call them in or deliver wine to their car when it’s ready.
  5. Check IDs from a distance. When making deliveries, the signature requirement has been temporarily waived – just ask customers to hold up their ID and check it from a safe distance.
  6. Adopt a “no cash” policy.
  7. Remove chairs from seating areas.

Emily Harris Gant is a partner at Foster Garvey, a Washington Wine Institute Associate Member, and provided help to our association as we translated what the most recent order means to our industry. We are grateful! Emily’s practice focuses on the alcoholic beverage and cannabis industries.  You can reach Emily at emily.gant@foster.com or 206.816.1454.

Please contact us if you need to talk, have questions or want to brainstorm. We’re in this together.