Saturday updateNapa vintners and grapegrowers are getting cold feet over a proposal to allow weddings at wineries.

Three of the four major wine industry groups in Napa Valley are pushing back against a plan to boost the local economy by opening up Napa County wineries to weddings and corporate retreats. But the small, yet influential, Winegrowers of Napa County is lobbying for more flexibility to host corporate events.

The bickering intensified Tuesday during a two-hour public hearing before the Napa County Board of Supervisors when winemakers and grapegrowers argued over everything from weddings at wineries to whether tastings should be allowed without an appointment.

Representatives of Napa Valley Vintners, Napa Valley Grapegrowers and Napa County Farm Bureau presented a mostly united front, asking that county officials eliminate a 20-year-old rule that requires many local wineries to host tours and tastings by appointment only. The three industry groups also suggested that the county ease restrictions governing wineries’ ability to serve wine and food together.

However, the groups rejected a proposal made by representatives of the hospitality industry last year to allow wineries to host major events such as weddings and corporate parties.

“There are plenty of venues for wineries and business retreats,” said Pat Stotesbury, a member of the Napa Valley Vintners’ board of directors.

“Our overarching concern is protection of the Ag Preserve,” he said, referring to the decades-old rules providing that unincorporated Napa County lands should be reserved for agricultural and not commercial use.

If the county lets wineries host a broader range of events, Stotesbury insisted it should be done in a way that doesn’t tinker with the Winery Definition Ordinance, the main document that governs winery uses in Napa County.

The Winegrowers of Napa County, meanwhile, maintains the county should allow business events at wineries, though they also question whether wineries should host weddings.

“Business meetings that include a meaningful wine educational component conducted at wineries provide a valuable marketing tool for Napa Valley grapes and wines and, therefore, create economic stimulus to our community,” Ed Matovcik of Foster’s Wine Estates said on behalf of the Winegrowers of Napa County.

“We should not lose focus of the jobs component of the issue today,” Matovcik said, noting that the reason industry officials are debating the issue in the first place is a concern over a plummeting local economy.

While the groups have overlapping memberships, the Napa Valley Vintners represents roughly 400 wineries, the Napa County Farm Bureau represents the interests of grapegrowers and ranchers, the Napa Valley Grapegrowers also represents growers, and the Winegrowers represents a group of vintners large and small including Trinchero Family Estates and Cakebread Cellars.

On Tuesday, vintners on both sides of the debate took even more extreme positions than the trade organizations that represent them, some arguing for the freedom to host weddings with some arguing for no change at all.

Ultimately, the debate boiled down to the economic welfare of the wine industry versus preservation of agricultural land.

Michael Haley, for example — the Upvalley grapegrower running for county supervisor this year — said the industry groups’ proposals are too “minor” to make a difference in this economy. “When you’re in a recession, you have to lighten regulations in order to stay in business,” Haley said.

Volker Eisele, a local vintner and staunch agricultural preservationist, replied that a few extra bucks isn’t worth commercializing agricultural land.

“The fact that we have a recession is not a justification to throw everything out that we have accomplished” with regard to preserving agriculture, Eisele said.

Still others claimed that with the economy on the skids, the fate of the Ag Preserve depends on the financial health of the wine industry.

“Selling wine is a key element to continuing to protect the Ag Preserve,” said Yountville vintner Bill Keever. “It can only exist if we’re able to sell wine.”

After a mixed reaction from supervisors — every proposal from the industry seemed to raise more questions than the last — county officials decided to come back next month for another round of debate. Napa County Planning Director Hillary Gitelman agreed to analyze the industry proposals in time for a county planning commission meeting on Feb. 17. The board of supervisors will take the issue up again on March 2.

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