Be-bop-a-ree-bop-a-Rhubarb Wine

Earlier I gave my .02 on the 'emerging' wine industry in South Florida. They are not alone. Enter the great state of North Dakota. From the article:

"Companies with domestic winery licenses must use a majority of North Dakota ingredients in their wine. Tony Osowski, who owns Vintner's Cellar franchises in Fargo and Grand Forks, does not currently meet that requirement because he makes his wine from grapes that are grown out of state.

He's asking the state Tax Department to grant him an exemption.

"I think it would be great to be able to buy grapes here," Osowski said. "But right now it's just not possible."

Umm.

"Osowski cites part of a domestic winery law that allows producers to substitute ingredients from out of state if bad weather hampers crops in North Dakota."

...'if bad weather'?

"They have a lot of fun giving it away with their names on the label," Osowski said.

Isn't that why Bob Mondavi got started in the first place?

A growing number of people have shown interest in selling wine in North Dakota, after legislators voted two years ago to allow more commercial production. The state has a handful of licensed wineries, most of which use native products like rhubarb, apple, wild plumb, choke cherry and honey.

Could we get a ruling on this? Somebody get Alex Trebek on the line.

"We're not in the business of putting anyone out of business," Rouse said. "But I think the intent of the law is quite clear. Tony needs something we can't offer him."

Maybe Tony should get the hell out of North Dakota.

To summarize, it's great that you want to have a business in North Dakota. It's even better that you want to make wine. But you have to use indigenous grapes. And since we don't grow grapes here (it may have something to do with all the damn snow), you're S.O.L. Awesome!