Bill paving way for wine giant’s $400M site in SC soon headed to governor’s desk
A California wine giant’s $400 million bottling and distribution plant, slated for 640 acres in Chester County, won a key victory Tuesday after the South Carolina House passed legislation giving the company three off-site tasting rooms.
The measure, which passed the House in a 98-11 vote, will go to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk after a third, perfunctory vote Wednesday. McMaster says he will sign it.
“How many superlatives can we come up with? It’s a great day in South Carolina, it’s a great day in Chester County,” said state Rep. Randy Ligon, R-Chester. “A West Coast company, an investment of this size could go anywhere east of the Mississippi River and they chose Fort Lawn.”
In hardly a three-month span, the Legislature tweaked the state’s alcohol regulation system to pave way for a large-scale investment by E & J Gallo Winery in Fort Lawn, a former mill town in desperate need of jobs, state lawmakers said.
Part of that investment would be nearly 500 jobs, though Gallo’s representatives said it could bump up to more than 1,000 over 30 years.
The legislation allows Gallo to open and run three, standalone tasting rooms in areas of the state with high foot traffic, an allowance not currently allowed under state law. Gallo could only sell wine — not beer or liquor — and only sell six bottles of of its wine to each customer. That wine must be bought through the state’s licensed wholesalers and then resold to customers at the retail price.
Despite requests by some lawmakers to extend the hours, Gallo would have to close each of its tasting rooms by 5:30 p.m.
Gallo’s representatives told lawmakers in order to build the Chester plant, they needed this legislation first.
Wholesalers, retailers and, recently, wineries criticized the deal as unfair, saying special perks should not be given to out-of-state companies, leveraging Gallo’s advantage. But lawmakers and Gallo’s advocates defended the deal, arguing the investment was on the scale of BMW Manufacturing’s spending in Spartanburg County, another former mill town, that could future development in the area.
“We are hoping that this opens the door” to investment in rural areas, said state Sen. Mike Fanning, a Fairfield Democrat whose district includes parts of Chester.
“We’ve had lots of bad news and so to be able to get some positive news in Chester County that we can brag on is huge,” he said.
Lawmakers said the legislation would hardly give Gallo a leg up, especially after giving wholesalers and retailers more say.
Sweetening the legislation for many, lawmakers agreed to allow micro-distilleries to increase the amount of liquor they serve for tasting and have restaurants on site. For years, the micro-distillery industry has battled with Legislature and the state’s wholesalers and retailers over giving the industry more room to expand.
That became more necessary after the COVID-19 wreaked havoc on business, lawmakers heard.
“This now helps small, independent producers all across the state do something that really legislators on both sides on both sides of the aisle, in the Senate and the House, have tried to do for a long time,” Fanning said. “We’re excited that that enabled it to be a little bit bigger than just this.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 1:22 PM.
