Napa County is hustling to set its own rules for how vineyards can host visitors before a new California law throws the doors open to more off-site tastings. County planners are considering tight guest caps, mandatory transportation, and road limits that could leave many vineyard visits looking a lot smaller and more controlled than the glossy wine-country brochures suggest.
How the new state law works
The state measure, Assembly Bill 720, creates an “estate tasting event” permit that lets licensed winegrowers use their tasting-room privileges at adjacent property or at non-adjacent vineyards they own or control, according to LegiScan. The law caps estate-event authorizations at 36 per licensee per calendar year, sets a $100 fee for each event authorization, plus an annual permit fee, and maintains local land-use review and fire marshal sign-offs. AB 720 is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, giving counties a relatively short runway to sort out local rules.
What the Napa staff proposed
Napa County staff rolled out draft interim rules that would significantly narrow the scope of AB 720 in practice, including a 15-person daily guest cap, a ban on self-driving vehicles, requiring guests to be transported by the winery, a 36-day annual limit for vineyard visits, and a prohibition on temporary structures at stops. The proposal would also confine events to roads the county classifies as agricultural, limit shuttle fleets to two vehicles, and aim for roughly 40 vehicle trips per day on those roads. Those specifics were presented to supervisors during a briefing on the county’s implementation plan, as reported by The Press Democrat…