Along with the National Parks Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and many other government agencies that are being held hostage in the ongoing budget standoff, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has shut its doors, meaning that rosé deliveries might be a little late this year.
The Bureau is responsible for approving new alcoholic beverages and labels. Until its employees can come back to work, its Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) process that normally takes ~36 days could drag on for months.
This poses a problem for domestic and international wineries that have barrels full of new blends just waiting to be bottled. Do they hold off while the TTB works through its backlog of COLAs post-shutdown, putting their entire bottling and shipping process months behind schedule, or go ahead with bottling and labeling, risking that the wine might ultimately be rejected?
Beyond wineries, importers and distributors are seeing trouble brewing (well, fermenting), as well. While producers wait for COLAs and for USDA approval of international wines, wine critics can't receive samples that will let them shape what consumers want to drink this year, and the players responsible for getting those wines to retailers and restauranteurs are unable to decide what to stock next season. Particularly for international wines, that adds even more time between making perfectly crisp rosé and getting it into consumers' glasses.
So what will become of us this summer season? Will the poolsides of the Hamptons see ice buckets filled with blush-colored Côtes de Provence? Or will the captive bottles not be freed until long after poolside patrons have put away their white jeans (which, for the love of champagne, must be immediately after Labor Day)?
President Trump and Speaker Pelosi, we're begging you - let our vino go!
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