Kirby

In each of these three cases, agents of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control made three purchases of wine from the licensee within a period of a few days. Each purchase was at a price less than the fair trade price. In each case, the three violations were charged against the licensee in a single three-count accusation. As to Vallerga and Latimer, the department imposed penalties of license suspension of 10 days for the first count, 30 days for the second, and revocation for the third. The license of Gourmet, Inc. was suspended for 10 days on count 1, 30 days on count 2, and 60 days on count 3, the suspensions being made consecutive.

The ABC Appeals Board looked to the 1965 amendment of the statute (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 24755.1) limiting penalties for sale of distilled spirits to fines, rather than suspension or revocation. Deciding that failure to similarly amend the penalty provisions for sale of wine (Bus. & *877 Prof. Code, § 24880) was a legislative oversight, the board “rectified” the error by holding that penalty limitation for sale of distilled spirits also limited the penalties for fair trade violation in the sale of wine. It therefore reversed the…