A. Any winery licensee or farm winery licensee may manufacture and sell cider to (i) the Board, (ii) any wholesale wine licensee, and (iii) persons outside the Commonwealth.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 4.1-213

  • Alcohol: means the product known as ethyl or grain alcohol obtained by distillation of any fermented liquor, rectified either once or more often, whatever the origin, and shall include synthetic ethyl alcohol, but shall not include methyl alcohol and alcohol completely denatured in accordance with formulas approved by the government of the United States. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Alcoholic beverages: includes alcohol, spirits, wine, and beer, and any one or more of such varieties containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, including mixed alcoholic beverages, and every liquid or solid, powder or crystal, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine, or beer and capable of being consumed by a human being. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Beer: means any alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of an infusion or decoction of barley, malt, and hops or of any similar products in drinkable water and containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Board: means the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Farm winery: means (i) an establishment or cooperative located in the Commonwealth on land zoned agricultural that has (a) a vineyard, orchard, or similar growing area that produces fruits or other agricultural products used to manufacture the wine of such farm winery, subject to the requirements set forth in § 4. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Licensee: means any person to whom a license has been granted by the Authority. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • sell: includes soliciting or receiving an order for; keeping, offering or exposing for sale; peddling, exchanging or bartering; or delivering otherwise than gratuitously, by any means, alcoholic beverages. See Virginia Code 4.1-100
  • Wine: includes any wine to which wine spirits have been added, as provided in the Internal Revenue Code, to make products commonly known as "fortified wine" which do not exceed an alcohol content of 21 percent by volume. See Virginia Code 4.1-100

B. Any wholesale wine licensee may acquire and receive shipments of cider, and sell and deliver and ship the cider in accordance with Board regulations to (i) the Board, (ii) any wholesale wine licensee, (iii) any retail licensee approved by the Board for the purpose of selling cider, and (iv) persons outside the Commonwealth for resale outside the Commonwealth.

C. Any licensee authorized to sell alcoholic beverages at retail may sell cider in the same manner and to the same persons, and subject to the same limitations and conditions, as such license authorizes him to sell other alcoholic beverages.

D. Cider containing less than seven percent of alcohol by volume may be sold in any containers that comply with federal regulations for wine or beer, provided such containers are labeled in accordance with Board regulations. Cider containing seven percent or more of alcohol by volume may be sold in any containers that comply with federal regulations for wine, provided such containers are labeled in accordance with Board regulations.

E. No additional license fees shall be charged for the privilege of handling cider.

F. The Board shall collect such markup as it deems appropriate on all cider manufactured or sold, or both, in the Commonwealth.

G. The Board shall adopt regulations relating to the manufacture, possession, transportation and sale of cider as it deems necessary to prevent any unlawful manufacture, possession, transportation or sale of cider and to ensure that the markup required to be paid will be collected.

H. For the purposes of this section:

“Chaptalization” means a method of increasing the alcohol in a wine by adding sugar to the must before or during fermentation.

“Cider” means any beverage, carbonated or otherwise, obtained by the fermentation of the natural sugar content of apples or pears (i) containing not more than 10 percent of alcohol by volume without chaptalization or (ii) containing not more than seven percent of alcohol by volume regardless of chaptalization. Cider shall be treated as wine for all purposes of this subtitle, except as otherwise provided in this subtitle or Board regulations.

I. This section shall not limit the privileges set forth in subdivision 8 of § 4.1-200, nor shall any person be denied the privilege of manufacturing and selling sweet cider.

Code 1950, § 4-27; 1978, c. 174; 1980, c. 324; 1992, c. 349; 1993, c. 866; 2011, cc. 265, 288; 2014, c. 787; 2015, c. 412; 2017, c. 160.

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