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NY wineries want feds to speed up bottle labeling
Published 07:28 p.m., Friday, July 8, 2011



ROCHESTER -- Wineries in New York complained Friday that the federal government is hurting their business by taking too long to approve new labels for wine bottles.

Sen. Charles Schumer headed to two wineries in New York's Finger Lakes on Friday to press the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to clear what he called a bureaucratic logjam. "This wine labeling backlog has far too many New York wineries over a barrel," Schumer, a Democrat, said during a stop at Giancarelli Brothers Winery in Weedsport, west of Syracuse.

Dozens of New York's 300-plus wineries have been grumbling of late that getting approval for new labels is sometimes taking months instead of days, said Jim Trezise, president of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, a trade group.

"Label approvals have slowed a great deal because of staff cutbacks" at the trade bureau, Trezise said.

-- Associated Press