San Diego County makes effort to boost local wine industry. (Escondido: fit in, attorney)

[Oerdin]

You almost wouldn't know it these days but the very first grape vines planted and the very first local wines made in California were in San Diego and from the Spanish colonial period to the beginning of prohibition San Diego actually had a nice sized native wine industry. Sadly, prohibition wiped out virtually all the county's wine producers and after alcohol was made legal again vintners moved on to other regions with better irrigation systems which were under less pressure by developers. By the 80's you'd hardly know the region used to be a major wine producer other then the odd old vine growing on a terrace in Mission Valley; the old coastal vineyards were buried under pavement and track homes.

Now wine making is making a come back in San Diego county. There was a mini-boom in places like San Pasqual, Fallbrook, Warner Springs, and Ramona in the 1990's. Now the county board of supervisors are changing laws and making efforts to promote local grape growers and vintners so soon we may not have to drive to Temecula to get a taste of local wine.

County sets the table for wine-tasting rooms


Finding a place to sip a glass of local petite sirah (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/Petite_Sirah - broken link) , zinfandel (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/Zinfandel - broken link) or viognier (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/Viognier - broken link) wine should get a lot easier soon.
The number of tasting rooms pouring the county’s wines is expected to grow, giving the region’s small wine industry an economic boost, following a vote by county supervisors Wednesday.
The county approved an ordinance that would make it easier for growers to open tasting rooms and establish small wineries.
Local growers and experts say the ordinance could go a long way toward building an industry that withered in San Diego (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/San_Diego - broken link) during Prohibition.
Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price said at Wednesday’s meeting that she has visited other wine-producing regions in the state and “always thought we were leaving money on the table.”
She added, “I think it’s a timely opportunity for us.”
Local wines have been under the radar, said John Alonge, owner of the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center in downtown San Diego, which serves a handful of local varietals produced in Fallbrook, Ramona and Warner Springs. “These are not people that have PR firms and marketing people.”
There are about 50 licensed wineries around the county, with some of the largest clusters in Ramona and Escondido, local growers said. Products range from spectacular to undrinkable, Alonge said, but to taste them requires a car and “a lot of patience.” Few wine bars or restaurants serve local wines, he said.
Carolyn Harris, who produces wine with her husband in Ramona and worked with the county to come up with the ordinance, estimated up to a half-dozen new wine-tasting rooms could open this calendar year, up from 13 now.
Experts say the expansion of the industry locally would fit in with the growth seen statewide. The number of wineries alone in California (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/California - broken link) more than doubled in the decade up to 2009. Winegrowing has also spread into more counties, said Robert Smiley, a professor of management and director of wine industry studies for the Graduate School of Management at the University of California (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/University_of_California - broken link) Davis.
“What you have in Napa and Sonoma (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/Sonoma - broken link) is saturation, so it’s going into Mendocino County, Lake County, but also Southern California, in the Temecula area, Santa Barbara (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/Santa_Barbara - broken link), San Luis Obispo (http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topic/San_Luis_Obispo - broken link),” Smiley said. “I think it’s great because it gets people out on the road — hopefully they don’t drink too much before going back in cars — and they save some money and buy better wine.”
A spokeswoman for The Wine Institute, a trade association, said the state’s 3,000 wineries employ hundreds of thousands of workers, and support the tourism and hospitality industries.
Local growers such as Beth Edwards of Ramona said her family’s award-winning petite sirah is already available in a handful of wine shops and a local restaurant in Ramona, but that she would like to also sell it directly to consumers.
She and her husband said she would love to open a tasting room on their property.
“Vineyards can’t survive without sales,” Edwards said. “You don’t just grow for the beauty of it. … All I’m looking for is to pop the cork and pour a one-ounce sample, letting customers take a taste and decide whether they’d like to take a bottle home with them or a case.”
The ordinance creates a layered system under which property owners in areas zoned for agriculture could set up one of four types of operations, ranging from growing and producing wine and selling off-site to full wineries.
In between, a new classification would allow small wineries to produce up to 120,000 gallons of wine per year and hold events on site such as weddings with proper approvals. Growers could open tasting rooms without having to secure a major-use permit, but under certain other restrictions.
Not everyone is fond of the idea.
An attorney accused the county of not fully complying with state laws in its environmental studies. Others said they feared more drivers would hit the road, some of them private roads, after drinking too much.
Ramona resident Jim Beggs said he was concerned about more traffic and the serving of alcohol in new tasting rooms.
“The safety of my family is more important” than any economic benefit that might be achieved through the ordinance, he said.
Harris, an attorney who also produces wine in Ramona, said she understood the concerns of opponents. But she said her organization, the Ramona Valley Winery Association, has been working for four years with Supervisor Dianne Jacob and other county officials to refine the regulations on wineries.
Harris said she and other growers are just trying to pursue their passion and get their product to the public.
“Part of it is justifying to your spouse putting the family treasure into this,” she said. “Some of us are kind of hard-pressed to justify the expenditure if there’s no market. Either you get the market … or you fold.”

County sets the table for wine-tasting rooms - SignOnSanDiego.com

[Oerdin]

BTW the Ramona Valley is the newest American Vinticultural Area to achieve official certification. That means the San Diego area has three officially certified AVAs; the San Pasqual Valley AVA, the Temecula Valley AVA, and now the Ramona Valley AVA.

American Viticultural Area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Oerdin]

A few links about the best vineyards and the wine growing regions in and around San Diego.

San Diego's Wineries - SanDiego.org
California Wine & Winery Guide
SteveO's Temecula, Ramona Valley and San Diego County Wine Region Touring
San Diego Wine Country

[Clevelandgal]

I wonder if any of these wineries set up tastings downtown? I am in full agreement I don't need to be driving and tasting.

[Oerdin]

Probably not as it would be vastly more expensive most wineries open a tasting room and/or store on their own property. The solution might be for wineries to help promote wine tours using vans, buses, or limos as is done in places like Napa or the Santa Ynez Valley. It really is too bad there is no old rail lines in those areas because one of my favorite things when I visited Napa was going on the wine train which had great wine, amazing food, and views of the countryside in the wine country. It was like being at a five star restaurant (the food and wine was that good) only you get to see the various vineyards and the beautiful countryside around them.

Even if individual wineries don't set up tasting rooms downtown it would be a huge step up for the local industry if we could convince some of the wine bars and restaurants to start carrying a few locally made wines. That would not only sell more locally made wine but it would also help build consumer awareness of San Diego as a wine producing region.