PALISADE, COLO – (May 22, 2023) —The Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology (CAVE), is excited to announce their bill, SB23 -264, was signed into law by Governor Polis last week! The Alcohol Beverage Festival Participation Bill allows a licensee (including wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries) to participate in up to fifty-two (52) festivals each calendar year, including the nine (9) festivals held under a permit issued to the licensee. This bill also raised permit applications fees from $25 to $50 and increased the number of days a permit must be filed from 10 days to 30 days. This bill took effect upon signature last week.
“This is a huge win for the Colorado wine industry!” says Cassidee Shull, CAVE’s Executive Director, “So many of our wineries depend on wine festivals for market access. Being able to increase the number of festivals they are able to attend in a calendar year just makes sense,” she says.
Licensees were previously limited to only attending 9 festivals in a 12 month period prior to the passage of this bill.
CAVE would like to thank their dedicated bill sponsors, Senator Rodriguez, Senator Gardner, Minority Leader Lynch, and Speaker McCluskie for their support and advocacy on this bill. A special thanks goes out to CAVE’s lobbyists, Stephanie Hicks and Sol Malick, their Legislative Committee, the CAVE board and staff and the committed CAVE membership for supporting this initiative for the past several years!
Colorado Mountain Winefest is the largest fundraiser for the Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology. CAVE is the only non-profit dedicated to Colorado’s wine and grape growing industry. All proceeds from Colorado Mountain Winefest go towards CAVE’s annual VinCO Conference & Trade Show, which is focused on improving winemaking and grape growing in Colorado.
For more information about CAVE, please visit www.WineColorado.org. For more information about Colorado Mountain Winefest, please visit www.ColoradoWinefest.com.
