Whereas, the changes proposed by this Act need to take effect before the expiration of the 90-day period to enable a farm winery in this State to commence business; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 28-A MRSA §1355, sub-§3, ķA-1 is enacted to read:

A-1.__A holder of a farm winery license may fortify wine produced by the farm winery license holder and import spirits solely for this purpose.__If the farm winery license holder produces fortified wine pursuant to this paragraph, the combined total of wine, sparkling wine and fortified wine produced at the farm winery may not exceed 50,000 gallons per year.__For purposes of this paragraph, "fortified wine" means wine to which spirits have been added as long as the resulting liquor does not exceed 24% alcohol by volume.

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.

SUMMARY

This bill allows the holder of a farm winery license to fortify wine and import spirits as long as those spirits are used exclusively for the fortification of wine produced by the farm winery license holder. The bill maintains the current production limitation of 50,000 gallons and prohibits the winery from fortifying the wine beyond an alcohol content of 24%.