Wine giant Gallo close to $400 million center in S. Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina will likely soon tweak its liquor laws to allow the biggest winemaker in the United States to spend $400 million on a new bottling and distribution center in the state. The House voted 98-11 on Tuesday to approve the bill that would allow California-based E& J Gallo Winery to open tasting rooms where people can sample their wines. The tasting rooms needed an exception to South Carolina’s quirky liquor laws. Gallo wants to open a site in Chester County to be the center of its East Coast operations and asked for the tasting rooms as part of the deal.