compromise 
March 14, 2006 

By Steve Walsh / Post-Tribune staff writer 

INDIANAPOLIS — Supporters were confident Monday that they had a deal that would save small wine producers and bring more liquor licenses to Portage. 

Rep. Robert Kuzman, D-Crown Point, said lawmakers had reached a deal satisfactory to small wineries and Indiana’s wholesalers. The Alcohol and Tobacco Commission would also be able to auction five new liquor licenses for Portage. The House and Senate are expected to vote on that package today. 

Over the past year, wineries, including Anderson Orchard and Winery in Porter County and Lake Michigan Winery in Whiting, have been caught in limbo by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires states to treat wineries in their home state the same as wineries across the country. Combined with a ruling of the ATC, small wineries have been stopped in recent months from shipping directly to customers. 

Several wineries testified in the Senate that a permanent ban would be a death sentence for Indiana’s wine industry. 

“I think we found a compromise that was acceptable to both the wholesalers and the wineries,” said Rep. Matt Whetstone, R-Brownsburg, who brokered the compromise. 

Liquor wholesalers in Indiana were concerned that the direct shipment of wine would undermine the state’s three-tiered liquor distribution system, in place since the end of Prohibition, which does not allow wholesalers, retailers and producers to combine roles. 

The bill says no more than 24 cases of wine per year can be shipped to an Indiana home. The wine can come from any small producer in the country, but the customer must initiate the first sale in person. The bill contains a grandfather clause to allow wineries to continue shipping to current customers, if they affirm that they did meet the customer, at least one time, in person and checked their ID, Whetstone said. 

A winery would be capped at shipping no more than 3,000 gallons a year to homes in Indiana. 

In Portage, city officials asked for more liquor licenses to help the city’s growing entertainment industry. The same post-Prohibition laws limit liquor licenses by population. The bill allow ATC to auction off five more licenses, for use anywhere in the city, Whetstone said. 

Dave Lundstrom, owner of Anderson’s Orchard and Winery, said the past four weeks have been stressful.