More News

A Kensington town councilman has launched an online wine marketplace that will give 50 percent of its proceeds to partner charities, urging patrons to "Drink Charitably."

But Mackie Barch's Vintners Charitable Cooperative won't be filling goblets or coffers of Marylanders any time soon. Direct delivery of wine from vintner to consumer, the system upon which the company is based, is illegal in this and 12 other states, so the Web-only storefront will be restricted to the places its goods can be legally delivered.

The Vintners Charitable Cooperative works by partnering with small boutique wineries to create a wine club through the site. Charities then encourage their patrons to join the wine club, allowing them to buy the wines featured in the VCC. The VCC, in turn, gives 50 percent of the net profit from that wine purchased by club members to the partner charity.

Barch got the idea for the company, launched Monday, after a 2006 trip to Argentina where a friend asked him to research wine for his import company. Barch fell in love with culture of vineyard folk.

"You get the most eclectic, weird people in wine," he said. "We always look at these labels but we never really know the stories behind it. It's a sense of community. Sitting around the table with the family and a glass of wine is something that's kind of lost today, just kind of slow down and enjoy life."

But his time in Argentina also revealed to him a side of life where people couldn't afford to slow down.

"I saw a ton, ton of poverty," Barch said. "Kind of seeing these massive vineyards and at the same time when you're going up to the vineyards, seeing mud huts and corrugated roofs, I wanted to do something different."

The VCC currently has three vineyard partners—Chappellet, Dovetail, and D'Argenzio—and one charity partner, Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit that distributes books to doctors in all 50 states to give to pediatric patients at wellness checks. Supporters of Reach Out and Read join the charity's wine club through the VCC and buy wines from the participating vineyards, which sends 50 percent of the proceeds to the charity. Eventually, Barch said, he wants to have hundreds of charity partners.

"I think it's a great way for vintners to support a good organization like ours and we think our donors will like it," said Mary Doorley, director of development for Reach Out and Read. "And with the holidays coming up we thought it would be a good time. We think it would be a great gift for the holidays."

Steve Tamburelli, general manager of Chappellet, said the winery is happy to participate too. The vineyard will offer a 2007 Mountain Cuvee and a 2007 Chardonnay through the VCC.

"It allows us to expose our wines to a client that may not be exposed without this, and at the same time it's for a good cause," Tamburelli said. "We don't have a real public face in wine, we're way up in the hills."

Tamburelli said the VCC offers a new foothold for the Napa vineyard in "one of the most crowded industries in the world."

Barch said that was his vision.

"People are hesitant to try new wines because I think wine is generally intimidating," he said. "This is not just about charity, this is about helping small farmers."

But Barch is frustrated he won't be able to ask his friends and neighbors to help. Direct shipping of wine from the vintner to a household is more economical for the small wineries that don't produce the inventory necessary to supply large distributors. Direct distribution is legal in Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., but not in Maryland, and skirting the law by shipping wine to a friend's house in the District and driving it to the Free State is a felony.

"It represents another way Maryland really needs to get their act together," said Barch, who has been lobbying for a change in the law. "Of course it's frustrating, it prevents us from working with Maryland charities."

Adam Borden, executive director of Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws, said vigorous efforts have been made to change the direct shipping law for 29 years. He said during the Internet boom, concerns that direct shipping would lead to rampant underage consumption "took things backwards," raising the penalty from a misdemeanor to a felony. Attempts to lobby for changes in the law have so far been unsuccessful.

"You remember those Capital One commercials with David Spade where he was just saying, ‘No. No. No.'?" Borden asked. "It's just like that. Think Nancy Reagan. Think ‘Just Say No.'"

But Borden said the momentum for a change in direct shipping laws in Maryland may be shifting, and his group intends to lobby hard in the coming year.

"It will happen in 2010, come hell or high water, it will happen in 2010," Borden vowed. "We are making so much noise about this."

Barch said he'll be in Annapolis adding his voice to the vineyard din.

"The wine laws are indicative of much more than direct shipping, it's about being supportive of an industry in the state.

For more information about the Vintners Charitable Cooperative, visit www.charityvintner.org. For more information about Reach Out and Read, visit

www.reachoutandread.org.