BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1184

By: Creighton

Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Wine is often manufactured and intended to be matured in the bottle for several years before it reaches its prime. Most wine in restaurants is "current release" wine, which represents only the most recent bottling or release from a winery. This wine may be purchased for a private collection, only providing for an opportunity for rare, collectible, or unique wine to be sold to restaurants if a manufacturer reserves a portion of their production for long periods of time. However, the bill sponsor has informed the committee that this is often not an economically viable strategy for manufacturers, and most restaurants in Texas rarely have wine more than a few years old.

The bill sponsor has further informed the committee that while Texas has a vast private wine collecting community, this wine is often sold in other states with laws favorable to the collectible wine market. The 88th Texas Legislature passed legislation to keep collectible wine in the Texas market by authorizing a wine collection seller to sell wine to an appropriately permitted restaurant if the wine is manufactured not less than 20 years before the date of sale, but some of the most popular varietals reach their prime between 10 and 20 years of age. S.B. 1184 seeks to address this issue by lowering the minimum age of a wine that a wine collection seller is authorized to sell to a permitted restaurant.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 1184 amends the Alcoholic Beverage Code to lower the minimum age of wine that a wine collection seller is authorized to sell to a permitted restaurant, as measured by the amount of time between manufacturing and the date of sale, from 20 years to 10 years.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.