Calistoga Council to consider wine regulations ( New Article posted by admin)

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The Napa Valley Register has an article about wine tasting room regulations:
Calistoga City Council will consider a set of long-debated regulation of wineries and tasting rooms at a public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Council will take public comment on a proposal to require that at least 75 percent of grapes used in wineries in the city be grown in Napa Valley. The requirement mirrors a long-standing county ordinance.

Like the county ordinance, the requirement would only apply to wineries in areas zoned for agriculture. Wineries built in commercial or industrial areas would be exempt.

Unlike the county ordinance, however, the Calistoga proposal would also regulate tasting rooms downtown. County planning staff had recommended that at least 75 percent of wines poured in any tasting room will have to bear the label of the Napa Valley American Viticultural Area or one of its subregions, such as Calistoga, Rutherford and Oakville.
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Link to article: http://wineberserkers.com/content/?p=1032

I think this is a really bad idea. Pointless at best, harmful at worst. Calistoga is so close to the Sonoma County line that our neighbors in Knights Valley have a Calistoga mailing address. Yet their grapes would be second class in Calistoga under this ordinance. Don’t we have more in common with KV than with, say, Carneros or Coombsville?

The city of Calistoga, as opposed to Napa County, makes it very easy to create a bonded winery. As such, there are many bonded garages in town, my own included (for PWR Wines). Calistoga has a cadre of enthusiastic, adventuresome winemakers working with grapes that Napa County either can’t or won’t grow. Often, these grapes sell for considerably less than Napa’s typical range, facilitating such experimentation.

The proposed regulations would bring all this to a close, and piss of our neighbors to boot. And what’s to like about it? I don’t see any upside.

The Council will take this up on the 21st. It looks like the new regs will be adopted. But it can’t hurt to take a stand. Below is the letter I sent to the Council (contact info here: http://www.ci.calistoga.ca.us) Please feel free to adapt it as you wish to let the Council know your views.

–Matt Reid

Calistoga, CA

"Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Councilmembers,

I strongly oppose the new regulations under consideration for Calistoga wineries and tasting rooms. I am an ardent supporter of the Calistoga AVA and of the Napa Valley, but these ordinances would do little to help those causes, and could do much to stifle winemaking innovation in Calistoga. Moreover, they are an affront to our neighbors in Knights Valley, many of whom have a Calistoga address. Under the new regulations, however, the excellent fruit they grow could be used only sparingly in wines produced or poured in Calistoga. To what benefit? Who is helped by this?

Since the regulations as proposed insist upon Napa Valley grapes, rather than Calistoga grapes, it is unclear that this rule would benefit any local growers. The world knows that Napa Valley grows some of the best winegrapes in the world, but Napa is limited by its climate. There are many grape varieties that can yield wonderful wines that simply do not grow well in Napa Valley. And thanks to the overwhelming (and welcome) success of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, there are many other varieties capable of producing great wine that no right-thinking grower would here ever plant in light of the prices they could fetch for Cabernet instead.

Calistoga has a number of young, enthusiastic winemakers such as Dan Petroski eager to work with such varieties. This hotbed of winemaking creativity could help establish an exciting winemaking identity for Calistoga, creating even more of a draw for visitors. Or it could be all but extinguished by these misguided new regulations. The choice is yours. I hope you make the right one, and do not adopt these new ordinances.

Thank you."