Malibu wine growers vs. coastal protection plan

From this morning’s LA Times:

Bruce

Synopsis?

Dan Fredman is a very skilled PR guy…

You can’t read the article?

Bruce

The coastal commission is proposing to ban any more grape vines in the Malibu AVA.

I heard supervisor Yaroslavsky on the radio last night, debating with the rep for the winegrowers in the Malibu AVA along with an LA Times reporter.

The take away was the vineyard issue is really minute compared to the overall proposition and it will not stop a unanimous vote on Tuesday. We shall see.

I don’t think any of the wineries in that AVA are looking to be the next Gallo and have plans to remove 100s of acres of indigenous growth in order to plant vines; they’re all quite small.

I’m torn; I see merit on both sides and it seems like there could be a compromise somewhere with respect to allowing vineyards, but I don’t think that will happen based on the arduous history of getting this proposition through the board of supervisors and the coastal commission.

Dan was just here. It seems they lost (but DID get one vote!): there will be no NEW vines and there is a possibility that those that have been planted but not permitted for commercial production yet may be ripped out. He seemed to believe there was neither the will nor the funding to enforce that.

thanks ron

Mod’s aren’t supposed to crack wise! Making fun of fellow posters is OUR JOB! You sit back and enforce the names policy

Brett- The lack of negotiation on the part of Mr. Yaroslavsky is perhaps the most frustrating thing about this. I realize that there are times when a few people have to sacrifice for the good of many, but in this situation it was not necessary. With a very few exceptions, the vineyard owners up here are in favor of the entire Land Use Plan, and most were even okay with limitations on new plantings. The problem is that the LUP is worded in such a way that only permitted vineyards will be allowed to remain, but there has been no effort in the past to inform vineyard owners that a permit was required. Thus very few (if any) of the vineyards in the unincorporated area of LA County obtained them and their owners may now be forced to pull them out. Adding insult to injury, the LUP specifically says that vineyard owners cannot retroactively apply for a permit, despite this courtesy being extended to equestrians and their stables, corrals, and associated outbuildings. Furthermore, organic farming is allowed, but not organic vineyards.

The overall LUP has been in the works for a seven years and they were able to wrangle a consensus among disparate groups – unfortunately, Mr. Yaroslavsky’s dislike for vineyards (despite his professed love of wine ) meant that we got sacrificed. Our hope is that we can get a modification and allow retroactive permitting; the alternative is that litigation ensues and the whole thing gets tossed out due to a couple of technicalities they neglected during the process of getting the LUP passed; if this happens, that means it all goes back to the beginning and everything starts all over again, which is not what the vineyard owners want. This will likely play out over the next few months - there’s no indication that the Coastal Commission will be sending goons around with court orders to rip out vines, so we’ve got a little time to work things out.

Thank you, Roberto! It’s all about getting the story out to the right people.

DF

Sounds like a terrible decision, but Malibu has a strong current of uptight rich people with sharp elbows who fiercely resist anyone doing anything that upsets their aesthetic notion of what their slice of paradise is supposed to look and feel like, and I think they are constantly “pulling up the ladders” in fashions like these. I expect this decision was the result of some mega-rich people with a ton of political influence.

Separately from the merits of the decision, what are the wines from Malibu like? Are any of them anything special? Do they carry a prestige or kitsch factor price tag that makes them not really worth seeking out for reasons other than novelty?

the whole putting up fake “private property” or “no parking” signs to stop people from accessing a beach near their homes is all malibu

Chris, I have a CF from Malibu Oaks. I’ll save it for you.

The only Malibu wine I tasted was a syrah which was ok.

Being in the area I have tasted many Malibu wines like Semler, Malibu Rocky Oaks and Malibu Family.

They are not too bad and the quality has been slowly increasing. I understand the land use issei as they are trying to protect the Santa Monica Mountain area…but at the same time I think they should have grandfathered in those properties that were already planted to vineyards.