MetNews Staff Writer

(PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA) Aug 21, 2022 — A decision of the Third District Court of Appeal, issued yesterday, spotlights a bureaucratic blunder by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in ordering a 10-day suspension of the license of a family-run winemaking outfit by virtue of it supplying a supposed “thing of value” to a grocery store in the form of a nonoperational pizza oven used as part of a window display.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board reversed the license-suspension imposed on Bogle Vineyards, Inc. (Bogle) that was based on a supposed violation of Business and Professions Code §25502(a)(2), and the department sought a writ of review in the appeals court—which it issued. “We agree with the Board that the Department erred, and therefore reverse the Department’s decision and affirm the Board’s decision,” Justice Peter A. Krause wrote.

Wording of Statute

Sec. 25502 provides:

“a) No manufacturer, winegrower, manufacturer’s agent, California winegrower’s agent, rectifier, distiller, bottler, importer, or wholesaler, or any officer, director, or agent of any such person, shall, except as authorized by this division: [¶]…[¶] (2) Furnish, give, or lend any money or other thing of value, directly or indirectly, to…any person engaged in operating, owning, or maintaining any off-sale licensed premises.” The non-functional oven provided to a Raley’s store in South Lake Tahoe was used in a display, during “pizza month,” featuring a Bogle-branded oven, opened and unopened cases of Bogle, wine and a Bogle-branded pennant. As part of a promotion, a customer would receive $4 off a piece of pizza by buying a bottle of Bogle wine.

The Office of Attorney General represented the department in seeking reinstatement of the 10-day suspension.