Season Three is streaming now featuring interviews and insights for the Agribusiness, Food, Beverage, and Timber industries.
At Stoel Rives LLP, we offer a deep understanding of the vibrant and multifaceted food and beverage industry. Our team is adept at guiding businesses through the complexities they face in the production, distribution, marketing, and retail of food and beverage products. We are committed to regulatory compliance and consumer protection. Understanding the importance of these aspects in maintaining a business's reputation and ensuring product compliance, we work closely with clients to navigate these challenges.
Our offerings tailored specifically for the food and beverage industry include:
- Corporate Services and International Trade: Offering comprehensive support for food and beverage companies, from corporate formation and intricate multinational transactions to licensing, distribution, and navigating customs, importation, and trade sanctions.
- Health and Nutrition Claims & Labeling: Assisting clients in navigating the legal landscape around health, nutrition claims, and food safety labeling, ensuring regulatory compliance and consumer trust.
- Alcoholic Beverage Regulations: Specialized in the legalities of producing, distributing, and marketing alcoholic beverages, including federal and state-level regulations.
- Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection: Expertise in online commerce and digital marketing for the food and beverage sector, with a focus on aligning practices with consumer protection laws.
- Intellectual Property in Branding and Trademark: Strategic advice on branding and trademark matters to protect and leverage intellectual assets in the food and beverage industry.
- Advertising, Marketing Law, and Consumer Protection: Advising on compliance with advertising and marketing laws, focusing on accuracy, defamation, and product disparagement, while ensuring alignment with consumer protection laws.
- Proposition 65 Compliance and Defense: Expert guidance in complying with California’s Proposition 65, collaborating with testing laboratories and monitoring regulatory trends.
- Products Liability: Representing manufacturers and distributors in products liability cases, addressing claims of loss or injury due to product defects.
Experience
Financing and Acquisitions
- Represented large California winery with its acquisition of vineyard properties in Oregon, which involved assessing water rights and reviewing and assisting with long-term vineyard leases.
- Represented seller of a prominent Oregon winery to a California family owned and operated winery.
- Represented a major importer of foreign wine brands with its acquisition of a 50% membership interested in a vineyard property in Oregon.
- Represent a private equity firm in the acquisition of a vineyard producing pinot noir and chardonnay on a 100-acre estate.
- Assisted California-based winery, one of the world’s largest family owned wineries, with its acquisition of winery assets adding approximately 250,000 cases of production of premium wines to our client’s portfolio.
- Purchase of a Sonoma County, California vineyard and a Yamhill County, Oregon winery building for the subsidiary of an international beverage company.
Environmental, Natural Resource and Water Rights
- Advise and assist client in siting winery in industrial zone, including assessing system development charges and testing requirements for wastewater disposal.
- Advise winery clients in obtaining conditional use permits for wineries on agricultural lands that do not fall under state laws as permitted use.
- Assess and advise on water rights issues as they pertain to the acquisition of vineyard properties.
Licensing and Permitting
- Assisted family owned vineyard with matters relating to California’s Alcohol Beverage Control Tied House rules.
- Assisted national food gifts retailer with design and implement of their National Wine Direct Sales and Shipment Program.
- Direct to consumer shipping advice for a specialty retailer in Oregon.
- Managed licensing and permitting for one of Washington’s first winery alternating proprietorships.
Business and Operations
- Draft and negotiate custom crush agreements for numerous wineries.
- Advised Washington boutique winery on alternating proprietor requirements.
