A small group of Napa County wineries is banding together to fight Napa County’s claim that they are not entitled to on-site wine tasting.
The vintners say it is essential to their businesses and are calling on state and federal officials to help protect what they say are their civil rights.
In 1990, the number of wine-tasting operations was growing rapidly, and Napa County established a permit system for new operations that limited the number and size of on-site tours and tastings.
But wineries that were already in operation, such as Hopper Creek Winery in Oakville, were given an exemption from the permit requirement.
“We’re existing wineries, and these are existing rights,” says LIndsay Hoopes.
She purchased the Hopper Creek property in 2017 to create Hoopes Vineyards and Winery. They offer wine tastings, just as the facility has for nearly 40 years.
But now the county is suing Hoopes to stop that, claiming that while she may be exempt from getting a permit, she’s not exempt from the rules that come with it.
Arthur Hartinger, an attorney representing the county, said in a statement: “A use permit exemption does not allow for tours, tastings or consumption of wine on the premises. The previous owner, called Hopper Creek Winery, only had the use permit exemption, and that is what the Hoopes purchased.”
“Today, the Napa County government is functionally trying to take away our rights to operate as a winery,” said Hoopes. “This will force us to sell or close.”
But Hoopes is a former San Francisco deputy district attorney, and she’s countersuing, saying that if the winery predates the rules, the rules shouldn’t apply. That lawsuit is still being considered, but Hoopes and two other wineries are turning up the heat.
They’ve sent a request to state and federal officials asking them to investigate the matter as a civil rights violation.
“We need the attorney general and the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California to step in and protect our small businesses and others who are too afraid to come forward from this monumental government overreach,” Hoopes said.
Heather Griffin spoke for her father, Bob Brakesman, who founded Summit Lake Vineyards and Winery in the town of Angwin. The county isn’t suing them, but they’re joining the effort because they have the same use permit exemption as Hoopes.
“My dad is part of the living history here in the Napa Valley, and people like him and our family are why people come to Napa,” Griffin said. “They come here to sit and visit and have a glass of wine with the people who made it, where it was grown.”
The lawsuit against Hoopes Winery is still pending, but the judge in the case denied a temporary restraining order to prevent on-site tastings. So until the case is decided, they’re free to serve wine to customers as they have for the past 39 years.
County regulations treat wine like an agricultural product, regulating where it can be bought and sold. But those who make their living from wine say it is the experience of tasting that gives it its magic. Without that, it’s nothing but sour grapes.
