In recent months Liquor Officers from the SAPS and inspectors from the Western Cape Liquor Authority have told employees at some tasting rooms that the winery’s liquor license does not permit them to offer wine for tasting or consumption.
These include tasting rooms at well-known wineries that have been offering their wine for tasting for decades.
Before the Western Cape Liquor Act came into operation in 2012, the Liquor Act of 1989 regulated the manufacture, sale and consumption of wine. Under this act, a winery held either a producer’s or a special license (off-consumption).
A producer’s license was issued to a winery which only made wine from grapes grown on the estate. A special license (off-consumption) was issued to a winery which also made wine from bought in grapes.
The Western Cape Liquor Act only makes provision for one license for the manufacture of wine. This license is a micro manufacturer’s on- and off-consumption license.
Such a license permits the holder to make wine from grapes grown on the estate and bought in grapes and sell the wine to businesses with liquor licenses, i.e. supermarkets, liquor stores, restaurants, hotels, etc.
The license also permits the holder to sell its wine to members of the public for consumption elsewhere hence the reference to “off-consumption”, as well as to sell its wine to members of the public for consumption on the premises (i.e. on the estate) hence the reference to “on-consumption.”
This means that the winery is permitted to offer its wine for tasting, charge a tasting fee, and offer it for consumption on the premises, e.g. with a snack or meal.
In this regard, the license differs from its two predecessors under the 1989 Liquor Act, which only permitted the consumption of liquor in terms of an approval to offer wine for tasting (free of charge) – for which the licensed winery specifically had to apply.
Unfortunately, an error occurred when the Western Cape Liquor Act was drafted.
In the schedule to the act which regulated the conversion of licenses in terms of the 1989 Liquor Act to the licenses provided for in the Western Cape Liquor Act, the license to which the producer’s license and special license (off-consumption) was converted is described as a “micro- manufacturer’s off-consumption license” instead of a micro-manufacturer’s on- and off-consumption license.
This is clearly an error since the only type of micro manufacturer’s license provided for in the Western Cape Liquor Act is a micro-manufacturer’s on- and off-consumption license.
A license in terms of the act which is now being replaced can obviously not be converted to a license which does not exist in the act which replaces it.
Unfortunately, in the case of many wineries, the officials at the Western Cape Liquor Authority who updated the records of license holders after the commencement of the Western Cape Liquor Act were not aware of the mistake and recorded producer’s licenses and special licenses (off-consumption) as “micro- manufacturer’s off-consumption licenses” instead of micro- manufacturer’s on- and off-consumption licenses.
These incorrect references (on the annual renewal notices issued to wineries) are the reason why SAPS Liquor Officers and inspectors from the Liquor Authority who are not aware of the error assume that wineries are not permitted to offer wine for tasting or for consumption on the premises (because the renewal notice does not refer to “on-consumption”).
In some instances, inspectors and SAPS Liquor Officers are also confused by the fact that licenses issued under the 1989 Liquor Act still contain a condition which states that wine may only be offered for tasting free.
This condition no longer applies since the conversion of the license to a micro manufacturer’s on- and off-consumption license now permits a winery to sell wine for consumption on the premises – which includes charging a fee for tasting.
We have alerted the committee, which is currently drafting amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act, of this error. We expect that it will be rectified when the amendments are published for public comment.
Wineries that experience this problem are welcome to contact us so that we can assist with a request to the Liquor Authority to correct their records.