The General Assembly took steps today to restore some measure of self-distribution to small wineries.

Legislators had introduced several bills with different approaches to doing that, but they now appear to have agreed on a compromise bill.

The bill, as represented in Senate Bill 1413 and House Bill 2450, would create a nonprofit, nonstock corporation within the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to serve as a wholesaler for small wineries.

Wineries would be limited to distributing up to 3,000 cases of wine annually through the state. Anything above that would require a winery to use an independent, for-profit wholesaler.

The Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services voted unanimously this morning to approve SB 1413, and on Thursday night, a House subcommittee voted to approve HB 2450, its version of the same bill.

The practice of self-distribution by small wineries was halted last summer after a court in 2005 ruled the more than two-decade-old procedure was unconstitutional.

The court said self-distribution gave in-state wineries an unfair advantage because out-of-state vintners didn’t have the same right.

The House and Senate bills, if approved, would bring the state into the process, allowing it to serve as the wholesale distributor for these small wineries.

SB 1413 now goes to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration, while HB 2450 goes to the House General Laws Committee.

The Senate committee also passed Senate Bill 1164, a measure sponsored by Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, that would encourage ABC stores to give preference to small farm wineries.