Both cases involved consignment sales, something prohibited by the Federal Alcohol Administration Act. Red Hook Winery sold wine to Angels’ Share Wine Imports, a wholesaler, on consignment, meaning Angels’ Share didn’t have to pay for the wine until the wine was sold retailers.
But that wasn’t all Red Hook did. It also sold distilled spirits produced without a FAA Act basic permit, TTB said. And the Brooklyn, N.Y., producer “failed to insure that 78 cases and 2,418 keg containers had the government warning label.
As if that wasn’t enough, it failed to obtain 56 certificates of label approval for 4,820 cases and 2,418 kegs of wine that were sold between Aug. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2017. Those kegs also lacked the mandatory “bottled by” or “packed by” label information, the alcoholic content, net contents and declaration of sulfit4es label information.
As for Angels’ Share, its offense was pressuring 31 wineries to sell wine on consignment to Angels’ Share. That meant Angels’ Share didn’t have to pay for the wine until it was sold.
Red Hook Winery’s basic permit was suspended for 15 days, Angels’ Share for five days. Both suspensions have been completed.