Napa Valley: Grapegrower challenges use of wine ordinance

(NapaValleyRegister) - In a hearing in February, the Napa County Planning Commission took up the county’s 23-year-old Winery Definition Ordinance and an issue that has rankled some longtime Napa Valley grapegrowers — how county planning staff interpret the ordinance and apply it to older wineries’ expansions.

After much debate, the hearing ended with neither the commissioners nor county planning staff willing to make any changes to the ordinance and their interpretations of it. Six months later, Andy Beckstoffer of Beckstoffer Vineyards, a major Napa County grower, is undeterred.

Beckstoffer said in an interview Wednesday he continues to push wine industry groups to advocate changing the county’s interpretation of the ordinance. This interpretation allows older wineries — which pre-date the WDO’s adoption in 1990 — to apply Napa Valley grapes from their current use permits to production expansions.

Production that pre-dates the Winery Definition Ordinance is exempt from its regulations, including its signature stipulation — that wine made in Napa must be made with 75-percent Napa grapes. Napa crushed about 110,000 tons of grapes in 1989 and 1990, which could hypothetically be put toward expansions.