As San Diego’s backcountry begins to recover from the fires of the past month, viniculture and wine-related tourism can play a role in helping severally impacted communities, including Ramona, Valley Center, and Julian recover. That is why it is so important that, rather than allow opportunities to wither on the vine at this critical juncture, county officials should embrace the success of our local agricultural entrepreneurs and ease regulations that currently are precluding the development of wine-tasting rooms in San Diego’s rural communities.
San Diego’s rich wine heritage reaches back to the 18th century, when Spanish missionary Father Junipero Serra planted wine grapes shortly after founding Mission San Diego de Alcala in 1769. As succeeding growers have learned, the region is blessed with microclimates and terrain which are ideal for wine grape cultivation, especially varietals like syrah, sangiovese, viognier and chardonnay. With new wineries taking root, and improved industry practices and technology, San Diego County’s wine industry has thrived. According to the S.D. Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures, the total acreage of wine grapes harvested has increased 65% from 187 acres in 1996 to 309 in 2006, culling more than 640 tons for processing last growing season.
Recently, much of the interest in winemaking has been focused in the Ramona Valley, an 89,000 acre area that has the unique microclimates that make for fantastic wine. According to the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association, more than twenty wineries call Ramona Valley home, producing an array of blends and varietals that often draw upon the other agricultural strengths of our region. The hard work and tireless efforts of these vintners have not gone unnoticed; in January 2006, Ramona Valley was officially recognized as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau, elevating it to a prized status shared by Sonoma Valley and the Central Coast.
Although San Diego wineries should expect their best days ahead, county zoning laws severely restrict on-site winery tasting rooms and retail sales. Only two types of wineries are allowed, “wholesale limited” wineries and “packing and processing” wineries. Wholesale limited wineries have building size restrictions and are not allowed to have retail activities. Other wineries must have a county-approved major use permits in already agriculturally zoned areas, which may or may not allow them to have tasting rooms, special events and on-site retail sales as part of the permit conditions.
The challenge is that obtaining a major use permit can require small business owners to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars for environmental reviews and other costly hoops, taking years for the process to be completed. Such a system favors the large over the small and those experienced with navigating byzantine County systems. Not surprisingly in an industry dominated by small land holders, only a handful of wineries countywide have worked through the County’s system. A proposal to create a “boutique winery” classification that would treat smaller San Diego wineries similar to other agricultural producer was stalled in September, and future regulatory changes are unclear. A sticking point has been the concerns of property owners on private roads in San Diego County, some of whom fear greater wear and tear and quality of life problems from booming business at nearby wineries.
But as the demand for San Diego wine has increased, and county law continues to level a bureaucratic ceiling on local vintners, some entrepreneurs have taken action. Earlier this year, Country Cellars, an independent wine store and tasting room, opened its doors a short drive away from mining town Julian’s Main Street. As owner Trez Gotfredson describes it, Country Cellars is a “great one-stop-shop” for San Diego wines, which are exclusive to her tasting room. Although it’s clear her business fills a market demand, Gotfredson voiced her support for greater regulatory change, noting that even though there will be more competition from new winery-based tasting rooms, a vino industry free to grow and serve customers in new ways will increase business for all of Ramona Valley.
Current county zoning laws do little but to drive local dollars to nearby Temecula and Santa Barbara competitors, which have built an entire visitors industry from San Diegans and other travelers frequenting their wine tasting rooms, purchasing bottles and staying in new exquisite hotels. It is telling that in the movie “Sideways”, the character played by Paul Giamatti leaves San Diego County to tour the Santa Barbara wine country. Furthermore, allowing San Diego vintners to only compete in the wholesale wine business puts local labels at a disadvantage, as heavyweight Sonoma Valley and European imports are better-equipped to sell their mass-production, well-known labels in a high-volume low-profit margin market.
There are alternatives. Rather than use government regulation to shield themselves from change, private road and property owners should seek out strong contractual road maintenance agreements with neighboring winery owners, who have an economic incentive to keep the pathways to their businesses safe, clean, and attractive. Using covenants and private contracts to achieve positive land use outcomes has been extensively researched by authors such as PJ O’Rourke and found to often be a more effective and efficient way to balance competing objectives and priorities.
The sooner the County gets out of the way and allows this industry to flourish the better. The regional recovery from the wildfires will be long and challenging, even by those who were able to retain their properties unscathed. Greater neighborly cooperation today can speed the recovery of fire-impacted communities, helping preserve the agricultural character of San Diego’s backcountry for years to come.
If all San Diego wineries are free to open their doors and their cash registers to consumers, local labels such as Mahogany Mountain, Schwaesdall, and Salerno may soon be occupying dinner tables across the country. Uncorking the success of the county’s vintners will reap a greater yield for all stakeholders in our region’s future.
Reader Feedback
Carl Winston of SDSU Says:
Wine tourism is a natural for San Diego County.
San Diego area governments should encourage this wonderful industry to flourish here.
November 8, 2007 at 5:01 PM
Privacy Advocate Says:
To understand the issues of private roads, one would have to have experienced living off of one. There is a serious liability (which may not be covered by the insurance companies for those insured) to the neighbors if a driver (possibly inebriated from the 3rd wine tasting) has an accident on a road which is not maintained to any County road safety standards. They are often very narrow, have numerous blind spots and no rails to protect a car from falling down a slope or into a rain induced trench. Then there is always the problem of getting the neighbors to agree on how to maintain the road.
There is a way to encourage winery growth in the areas with private roads, without subjecting the neighbors to these problems, and that is via a cooperative wine tasting room. The nascent small wineries share the cost of having a wine tasting room in a high traffic area, such as mainstreet Ramona. Napa is recognizing their problems and moving towards this model.
November 9, 2007 at 9:34 AM
Kim Hargett Says:
This article sums up very well the challenges of San Diego's wineries. Winery owners have invested years of sweat equity, hard work and lots financial commitment to growing grapes and perfecting their wine-making skills with no help from the local government. We sure hope the San Diego county government will use their good business sense, and especially common sense to sustain and stimulate the growth of San Diego wineries so that we can be profitable.
November 9, 2007 at 10:02 AM
John York Says:
Mr. Vasquez eloquently states the potential and the problem for wine grape growers in Ramona and throughout San Diego County. All of the vineyards in Ramona are small - 10 acres or less, so major use permits to sell the finished product, wine, is financially out of reach for most of us.
The most substantial issue, as Mr. Vasquez states, is the private road situation. Unfortunately, many of the small ranches, farms and vineyards in the backcountry of San Diego are on private roads. That is because the County allowed parcelling of large, legacy ranches over the years, and required new owners to build their own roads. In some areas, as housing density increased, neighbors lost sight that their land was still all zoned for agriculture.
It's an unfortunate situation, but I think that in many cases, Mr. Vasquez' suggestions for letting neighbors work these issue out is quite valid. This is not a silver bullet, but restricting all vineyards on private roads is not acceptable.
November 9, 2007 at 11:33 AM
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Wine tourism is a natural for San Diego County.
San Diego area governments should encourage this wonderful industry to flourish here.
To understand the issues of private roads, one would have to have experienced living off of one. There is a serious liability (which may not be covered by the insurance companies for those insured) to the neighbors if a driver (possibly inebriated from the 3rd wine tasting) has an accident on a road which is not maintained to any County road safety standards. They are often very narrow, have numerous blind spots and no rails to protect a car from falling down a slope or into a rain induced trench. Then there is always the problem of getting the neighbors to agree on how to maintain the road.
There is a way to encourage winery growth in the areas with private roads, without subjecting the neighbors to these problems, and that is via a cooperative wine tasting room. The nascent small wineries share the cost of having a wine tasting room in a high traffic area, such as mainstreet Ramona. Napa is recognizing their problems and moving towards this model.
This article sums up very well the challenges of San Diego's wineries. Winery owners have invested years of sweat equity, hard work and lots financial commitment to growing grapes and perfecting their wine-making skills with no help from the local government. We sure hope the San Diego county government will use their good business sense, and especially common sense to sustain and stimulate the growth of San Diego wineries so that we can be profitable.
Mr. Vasquez eloquently states the potential and the problem for wine grape growers in Ramona and throughout San Diego County. All of the vineyards in Ramona are small - 10 acres or less, so major use permits to sell the finished product, wine, is financially out of reach for most of us.
The most substantial issue, as Mr. Vasquez states, is the private road situation. Unfortunately, many of the small ranches, farms and vineyards in the backcountry of San Diego are on private roads. That is because the County allowed parcelling of large, legacy ranches over the years, and required new owners to build their own roads. In some areas, as housing density increased, neighbors lost sight that their land was still all zoned for agriculture.
It's an unfortunate situation, but I think that in many cases, Mr. Vasquez' suggestions for letting neighbors work these issue out is quite valid. This is not a silver bullet, but restricting all vineyards on private roads is not acceptable.