US: Caymus Pays $1 Million for Alleged Violations of Napa County Rules

(WineSpectator) - Caymus Vineyards has agreed to pay $1 million to Napa County to settle a dispute over allegations the winery violated local ordinances and bottled 20 times more wine at its Rutherford facility than permitted.

Last year Caymus bottled 2 million gallons of wine, or 830,000 cases, at its Rutherford winery, while its use permit, dating to the 1990s, allows the famous Napa Valley Cabernet producer to bottle 42,000 cases a year. Excessive production was the main allegation in Napa County’s lawsuit, which also asserted that the family-owned winery expanded its facilities without proper permits.

“This is something we’ve been wrestling with for some time,” owner Chuck Wagner told Wine Spectator. “It’s a complicated matter, but basically we disagree with the county on the use permit. Rather than engage in a lengthy debate with them, we want to continue our business and decided to settle.”

The Napa County winery definition ordinance (WDO) defines and restricts what wineries can do in terms of commercial activity, including winemaking, marketing and hospitality. Besides bottling more wine than its permit allowed, Caymus also allegedly violated the WDO by adding a cement crush pad and office building to its property without a new permit, thereby increasing its “footprint”.