I like the Enomatic-type wine  machines and believe they are a wonderful boon to the wine industry as well as wine shops. What’s not to like? The Enomatic-type machines come in all sizes. They are handy to have in tasting rooms where winemakers know that the wine opened one day will be good several days later. There is less wine to dispose of and less loss for the winery.

Apparently, not only in British Columbia but also in Washington State and Oregon, the laws are not keeping up with technology. According to an article in Wines and Vines, Government Limits Wine Dispenser by Peter Mitham, “Enomatic wine dispensing systems may be growing in popularity, but purchasers face closer scrutiny from regulators who see the machines as a challenge to liquor control regulations.”

In the article Mitham cites concerns from those opposed to the use of Enomatic-type machines. These include a state law requiring unused wine samples to be disposed of 30 minutes before closing. Interesting, I wonder what the rationale is behind that law.

Other concerns include that some laws require that consumers may not self-serve themselves wine, identification cannot be checked by a machine and that consumers may become intoxicated if they do not have a human server.

Solutions to Enomatic Concerns

Perhaps a solution is to follow the example of Tastings, a Wine Experience, a wine bar and bistro in Mystic, Connecticut. Tastings has two walls of wines from which to choose for tasting. Visitors purchase a card with a certain amount of money on it. The system was designed so that an individual can read a description and select their tasting. However when we visited in 2009, Connecticut did not allow consumers to self- serve wine. The Tastings wine bar and bistro in Mystic worked around this by having consumers select the wines they wanted to taste.  A server pours the selection from the machine and takes it to the table. With a hundred wines available to taste it was an ideal situation. We were able to taste high end (expensive wines) for a fraction of the price that a wine bottle would have cost. It was a win-win situation for the wine bistro, wineries and consumers.

Regarding the so-called inability of a machine to check ID and levels of intoxication, are Oregon and Washington unaware of Pennsylvania’s new system where consumers can purchase wine from a machine. It checks ID by having the purchaser swipe a driver’s license, smile for a camera and use a breath sensor. While the system is cumbersome, it does provide the idea that machines can provide control including identification and breath analysis. Hopefully, before this is needed, some of the archaic wine laws the northwest area has will change. After all, wine is not evil. It’s a beverage and should be treated as beverage that pairs well with food.

Cheers! Kathy