Summary
The Wyoming Supreme Court answered a certified question concerning whether Traveling Vineyard and its Independent Wine Guides engaged in the statutory sale of alcohol at in-home wine-tasting events. The court held that pouring and dispensing wine in connection with marketing activities, contact-information collection, and prospective purchases constituted a sale under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-1-101(a)(xvi), even though the wine was provided without a required purchase and orders were later processed by a designated licensee. Two justices dissented.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-1-101(a)(xvi)'s definition of sell or sale applies to the conduct of Traveling Vineyard and its Independent Wine Guides at in-home wine-tasting events.
Holdings
- Traveling Vineyard's provision of wine at the tasting events was not purely gratuitous because the company expected and received return benefits, including completed interest forms, guest contact information, attendance, and resulting business.
- Traveling Vineyard's conduct constituted pouring for value under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-1-101(a)(xvi).
- Pouring wine and making the products available for purchase at the tasting events constituted offering for sale under the statute.
- The statutory definition of sell or sale in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-1-101(a)(xvi) applies to the conduct of Traveling Vineyard and its Independent Wine Guides.
Key quotations
“For the foregoing reasons, we answer the certified question in the affirmative: The statutory definition of "sell" or "sale" in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 12-1-101(a)(xvi) applies to the conduct of Traveling Vineyard and its Independent Wine Guides.” (316)
“Accordingly, applying the "purely gratuitous" language, the question is whether Traveling Vineyard receives any recompense, or a return benefit, for providing wine to social guests.” (314)
Factual background
Traveling Vineyard operates a direct-shipping wine business in Wyoming and uses independent Wine Guides to conduct free, invitation-only wine-tasting events in private residences that are not licensed to sell alcohol. The Guides pour Traveling Vineyard wine, educate and promote the products, collect attendee contact and purchasing-interest information, and generate leads that Traveling Vineyard converts into sales. The Guides are compensated in part based on event attendance and subsequent purchases, while the attendees are told that any interest form constitutes only an offer to purchase that a designated licensee may accept or reject.
Procedural history
Appellants filed a federal declaratory-judgment action challenging the Wyoming Liquor Division's interpretation of the statutory definition of sell or sale and asserting commercial-speech rights under the First Amendment. The federal district court denied the Division's motion to dismiss and abstention request but certified the state-law question to the Wyoming Supreme Court, which accepted the certification and answered it affirmatively.