2nd Wine Maker Halts Skid Row Sales

Responding to an effort by Los Angeles County supervisors to reduce alcohol-related social problems on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, a second wine maker has voluntarily suspended sales of its cheap, high-alcohol wine in the downtown neighborhood.

But Canandaigua Wine Co. of New York, which produces the Wild Irish Rose and Cisco brands, did not go as far as E & J Gallo Winery, which last week halted sales of its Thunderbird and Night Train brands in Skid Row areas throughout the country.

Marvin Sands, Canandaigua’s chairman, said Tuesday that he wants to see if the six-month test reduces alcoholism before expanding the ban to other areas.

The supervisors urged the remaining producers of the “fortified” wines to follow suit.

The cheap, syrupy wines--which have twice the alcohol content of chablis or burgundy--are the beverage of choice of curbside alcoholics, according to county health officials.

“Although we think that only a small percentage of our Wild Irish Rose consumers are Skid Row alcoholics,” Sands said, “we’re interested in protecting that other 99% of our business.” He contended that fortified wines are consumed largely by “moderate, responsible drinkers who are hard-working Americans.”

Critics contend that alcoholics deprived of fortified wine will turn to other alcoholic drinks.