I recently wrote about an alarmist article. It was about Virginia outlawing firearms and martial arts training. There is an art to writing legislation. It used to be that a statute specified in plain language what was prohibited conduct and the punishment for straying outside the bounds of the law. That changed. The article, at the link, may pinpoint when that change took place.

https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/how-wine-bricks-saved-the-u-s-wine-industry-during-prohibition/

When Prohibition took effect the brewing, distillation and fermentation of grapes and agricultural products was prohibited. Various grain crops were seasonal in nature. The crops could be diverted for other purposes or other crops planted in their stead.

Grapes, however, are different. The grape vines take years to mature. Grape farmers where faced with a dilemma. If they pulled up the vines it would take years before a grape harvest could support wine production, if prohibition were repealed. It was okay to harvest grapes, as long as they weren’t destined to make wine. If a grape producer’s harvest was used to make wine, then they could be prosecuted under the Volstead Act.

There was a limited demand for grape jelly and PB&J samwiches.

There are some cultures were homegrown grapes and wine production were part of the household economy. It wasn’t unusual in Greek, and Italian neighborhoods to find home made wine. Family lore has it that my English grandfather may have tried his hand at wine making during prohibition. There is no doubt about my Italian grandfather and his wine making activities.

At any rate the Volstead Act allowed for the production of 200 gallons of wine, in a household, not for sale and to be consumed on the premises.

The wine grape producers came up with a solution. They continued their grape production and produced “bricks” of wine grapes. On the label the producers spelled out that the grapes could not be used to make wine. For those unfamiliar with the process of making wine, instructions on the label specified the things that the purchaser could not do to the grape bricks.

Failure to follow the instructions would result in wine and that was illegal.

Let me put this into context that may be more understandable.

There are rules and then there are rules. George Orwell knew what he was talking about.