When is Wine Not Wine

It all sounded like something that the Red Queen in ALICE IN WONDERLAND might ask- or something that Yossarian would ponder in CATCH-22—confounding, confusing, mind-stretching, unfathomable, a backwards-speaking Yoda riddle: When is a taste of wine no longer a taste of wine?  And when it is no longer a “taste of wine”, why does the guest sampling it have to be standing on a certain, specific type of flooring, with a bathroom and hand-washing station within 200 feet of them? The answer: A taste of wine is no longer a taste of wine when you charge the guest for tasting; then the wine becomes “food” and the Environmental Health Department is now involved in addition to the ABC and Sonoma County’s use permits. Golly.  A whole new state agency to get to...

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