Congress is MIA—Again Easter and Passover are past, Christmas and Hanukkah are still far away, and several legislative priorities still need to be addressed, but Congress is M.I.A.— out of town for two weeks—again. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security, the Farm Bill, and many other items remain in limbo, yet our legislators have … Read more

Illinois Wine Country Illinois has a winegrowing history dating back to 1691, and in 1900 was the fourth largest wine producer in the country until Prohibition wiped out the industry, as it did elsewhere. The modern industry was stimulated by a 1976 law allowing onsite sales at wineries, with both Lynfred and Galena wineries opening … Read more

WineAmerica Annual “Fly-In”: May 5-6 Federal public policy advocacy That’s what WineAmerica does on behalf of the American wine industry. Most of the time that means Michael Kaiser, our Washington presence, monitors and communicates with Congress, federal agencies, and beverage coalition partners. Michael is our Executive Vice President and Director of Government Affairs. He also … Read more

Georgia Wine Country While the country of Georgia is the true birthplace of wine thousands of years ago, the state of Georgia was the sixth largest wine producer before Prohibition and has been growing in recent years. Most wineries are in northern Georgia near the Blue Ridge Mountains where the conditions for growing vinifera grapes … Read more

Once again there is not much happening in DC from a legislative standpoint since the House is in recess (again!) and the Senate is at an impasse about whether to scrap the filibuster so Republicans can pass the SAVE Act, a presidential priority. A reminder: Last year Congress was in session for a total of … Read more