Flying Goat Cellars, represented by the Goldwater Institute, is challenging Santa Barbara County’s wine business improvement district, or BID, which requires wineries to pay a 1% assessment on certain direct-to-consumer sales and join the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association.
The mandate was approved in February 2025 by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors after a multi-year industry process. County officials said at the time they received 126 petitions in favor from vintners representing nearly 60% of wine sales, while four vintners representing about 1.2% of sales filed formal protest petitions, including Flying Goat Cellars.
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann described the outcome during a 2025 hearing as evidence of broad industry alignment, calling it “really quite a show” and “a testament to a lot of hard work and the success of partnership and collaboration” to attain agreement from all eight cities in the county…