The ongoing downturn in wine consumption has hit Sonoma County hard — but the vintners and grapegrowers in California’s second-most-famous wine region haven’t figured out how to answer the crisis.
Now, the local industry’s leading trade organizations have proposed a solution. But their idea has ignited fierce opposition from dozens of wineries — and revealed just how dire Sonoma County’s wine business is.
“It’s an incredibly emotional time,” said Sonoma County Vintners president Prema Kerollis. “People are feeling under attack.”
The proposal, a joint effort between the Sonoma County Winegrowers and Sonoma County Vintners, is to establish a wine improvement district (WID). WIDs collect a small assessment — typically 1-2% — from winery tasting room sales to fund marketing efforts for a region; they’re similar to neighborhood-specific business improvement districts. In the past four years, as the wine crisis has worsened, WIDs have started popping up all over California, including in Temecula (Riverside County), Livermore and Santa Barbara. Sonoma County’s WID steering committee estimates that a 1% assessment would generate at least $4 million annually for marketing…