County to tackle revise of winery ordinance

Grapevines are thornless, but the same can't be said of a coming revise of Amador County's winery ordinance.

Seeking to telescope into months a legislative process that took years in neighboring El Dorado County, supervisors Tuesday ordered formation of an ad hoc committee whose members will advise on the planned ordinance revision.

"The committee can review the El Dorado and Napa ordinances and come up with a good revision," said District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster. "Maybe it will take two months, not six."

Ordinance revision is necessary, according to several local vintners, to close loopholes that if widely exploited could expose established operations to what is being called "unfair competition." The grape and wine industry is widely regarded as central to the local economy.

Attention to the question of a revise came after a newly established wine operation on Latrobe Road sought exemption from a 50-percent-local-grapes requirement for the totality of wines sold from a site within the county. The intent is to limit local sales of out-of-county wines.

Danger of unfair competition lies in a past selective enforcement of local laws, an ambiguity in Amador's definition of "winery" and a loose handling currently of the regulatory tool of licensing, according to accounts from local vintners who have addressed supervisors.

"The definition should say that a winery is a processing facility," said Jane O'Riordan, co-owner of Terre Rouge and Easton Wines. Several vintners have said that some simple wine-tasting rooms currently operating without a use permit on agricultural land create unfair competition because they operate without the considerable expense of wine-processing equipment.

O'Riordan said the current ordinance fails to protect established Amador operations from move-ins by corporate wine operations. She quoted figures suggesting that mergers and takeovers are besetting California's wine industry at an unsettling rate.

"It's predicted that one half of family-owned wineries will change hands in coming years," O'Riordan said.

Forster, county counsel Martha Shaver and District 5 Supervisor Brian Oneto predicted that the question of grandfathering some current practices could prove difficult to solve. Oneto also said "mom-and-pop" wine operations might deserve special treatment.

The question of how to enforce a new ordinance also could prove difficult to answer, supervisors agreed.

Local vintner Ben Zeitman said his understanding was that El Dorado County officials verify compliance with ordinance sections before allowing a new winery to open.

An eight-seat ad hoc committee on ordinance revision will be composed of a county staff member, three members of the county vintners' association, two members of the county grape growers' association and two other people from the wine and grape industry. Applications will be taken and the board of supervisors will make appointments of committee members.