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Harvest Duhig makes the case for 10 acres
Harvest Duhig makes the case for 10 acres
Bill Hocker | May 7, 2015 on: APAC
At the May 6th BOS meeting winemaker Harvest Duhig spoke up in defense of the 10 acre minimum parcel size for winery development. The ongoing APAC meetings are considering raising the minimum to 40 acres. Her argument is that the larger parcel sizes will merely make wineries affordable only to ever more wealthy individuals, a trend that is already corrupting the authenticity of the Napa Brand, and freezing out younger winemakers. The higher cost of winery property will only encourage a greater reliance on tourism income to offset larger development costs.
Her proposed solution attempts to bring a sense of authenticity back to the term "family winery", itself having been corrupted as a marketing catch phrase. It is an approach that makes sense and is not unlike the "true" family winery that I have proposed elsewhere on this site as a substitute for the current WDO. The conditions she outlines, that production capacity be tied to the parcel's grape production potential and that the owner be a full time resident are a start in re-establishing winemaking as a committed craft in Napa rather than an a tourist experience. We may, or may not, differ over the amount of visitation necessary for such a winery to survive. But winery tourism has impacts, and if this "true" family winery approach is not to just recreate the current corrosive trend, it must succeed on the basis of the quality of its wine and not on the basis of visitor numbers. There are many respected examples in the county, like White Rock Vineyards on Soda Canyon Road or the cult wine Screaming Eagle that do just that.
Harkening back to the origins of the modern Napa wine industry, this approach emphasizes wine making as the enabler of a rural way of life in an urban world, not as a return on investment or exposition of wealth. Is it too late to begin to reverse the marketing-event land use policies that continue to foster ever greater urban development and the eventual decline of this rural environment? Is there just too much money involved in tourism at this point, as Dir. Morrison conceded at one meeting? It is well worth discussing an approach that replaces the current WDO with a policy that encourages those committed to the craft of wine making by discouraging the business of wine marketing in the vineyards.
Ms. Duhig's call for involvement is here
At the May 6th BOS meeting winemaker Harvest Duhig spoke up in defense of the 10 acre minimum parcel size for winery development. The ongoing APAC meetings are considering raising the minimum to 40 acres. Her argument is that the larger parcel sizes will merely make wineries affordable only to ever more wealthy individuals, a trend that is already corrupting the authenticity of the Napa Brand, and freezing out younger winemakers. The higher cost of winery property will only encourage a greater reliance on tourism income to offset larger development costs.
Her proposed solution attempts to bring a sense of authenticity back to the term "family winery", itself having been corrupted as a marketing catch phrase. It is an approach that makes sense and is not unlike the "true" family winery that I have proposed elsewhere on this site as a substitute for the current WDO. The conditions she outlines, that production capacity be tied to the parcel's grape production potential and that the owner be a full time resident are a start in re-establishing winemaking as a committed craft in Napa rather than an a tourist experience. We may, or may not, differ over the amount of visitation necessary for such a winery to survive. But winery tourism has impacts, and if this "true" family winery approach is not to just recreate the current corrosive trend, it must succeed on the basis of the quality of its wine and not on the basis of visitor numbers. There are many respected examples in the county, like White Rock Vineyards on Soda Canyon Road or the cult wine Screaming Eagle that do just that.
Harkening back to the origins of the modern Napa wine industry, this approach emphasizes wine making as the enabler of a rural way of life in an urban world, not as a return on investment or exposition of wealth. Is it too late to begin to reverse the marketing-event land use policies that continue to foster ever greater urban development and the eventual decline of this rural environment? Is there just too much money involved in tourism at this point, as Dir. Morrison conceded at one meeting? It is well worth discussing an approach that replaces the current WDO with a policy that encourages those committed to the craft of wine making by discouraging the business of wine marketing in the vineyards.
Ms. Duhig's call for involvement is here