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Jun 12, 2023

Micro

Kevin Morrison walks out of the wine cave on his property near Mount Veeder outside Napa on Wednesday. Morrison is in the process of establishing a micro-winery. Bottles of Hillwalker wine produced by

Kevin Morrison walks out of the wine cave on his property near Mount Veeder outside Napa on Wednesday. Morrison is in the process of establishing a micro-winery.

Bottles of Hillwalker wine produced by Kevin Morrison.

Kevin Morrison walked up a vineyard on his property on Mount Veeder west of Napa on Wednesday.

Kevin Morrison poses for a photograph near the wine cave on his Napa-area property on Mount Veeder.

Napa County is still waiting to see its first micro-winery, and proponents say that's partly because aspirants can face some big hurdles.

“We aren’t throwing in the towel yet,” said Elise Nerlove, whose family wants to establish a micro-winery.

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The county created the category in April 2022. Officials wanted to help mom-and-pop ventures produce a little wine and hold wine tastings without building full-dress multimillion-dollar wineries.

Micro-wineries can produce only 201 to 5,000 gallons annually. They can generate no more than 10 round trips a day, and can have no more than 5,000 square feet of enclosed winery space.

Those would be the polar opposites of Napa County’s grandest wineries, those with castle-like exteriors or interiors adorned with velvet furniture. A micro-winery host might be a farmer showing off a vineyard and holding a tasting at a picnic table.

In return for accepting various restrictions, applicants are supposed to have an easier, quicker path to county approval. Proponents hoped that establishing a micro-winery might be an easier economic lift.

More than a year into this great experiment, George O’Meara sees room for improvement. He is president of Save the Family Farms, the group that championed the micro-winery effort.

“There’s been very little streamlining to it right now,” O’Meara said.

Five parties have applied so far for micro-winery permits. Others are contemplating such a move, but have yet to pull the trigger. One might become Napa County's first micro-winery and prove the concept works.

Nerlove grows grapes on 8 acres in south county hills with distant views of wetlands. Her family makes Elkhorn Peak Cellars wines off site using custom crush and wants to hold wine tastings at the farm, something they see as crucial to selling wine.

“Would you buy a bottle of wine from an unknown producer you have never visited?” Nerlove said.

Napa County law requires that a farm have a winery before it can host wine tastings. Given the relatively small amount of wine they produce, the Nerloves want a micro-winery.

“I have a whole plan ready to go, ready to submit to the county,” Nerlove said recently. “I know exactly where I’m going to build my winery. I know exactly what it’s going to look like.”

She would build a 1,000-square-foot building — smaller than the average house. That would be a place to ferment wine, meeting the wine production requirement for micro-wineries and allowing visitation.

“We’re talking about a small, intimate experience,” Nerlove said. “We’re still talking about a picnic table, essentially. ... My vision is to have people out, walk them through the vineyard, show them what grape growing is about, give them a hands-on experience, and give them the fruits of our labor.”

But Nerlove has yet to apply for a micro-winery permit, even though she championed the concept as part of Save the Family Farms. She is the group’s vice president.

“Well, the process honestly hasn’t been streamlined too much,” Nerlove said. “It’s the same hurdles. The only concession we were provided was to have the application go past the zoning administrator, versus the Planning Commission.”

Her family’s plans ran up against another challenge — Cal Fire, the state fire protection agency, revised state minimum fire safety regulations that took effect in April.

One goal is to ensure people can evacuate from wildfires and firefighters can reach fires. Nerlove said a micro-winery is held to the same road standards as a much larger winery. Her family faces having to widen a road at a cost of around $500,000, taking out part of a vineyard to do so.

Establishing an Elkhorn Peak Cellars micro-winery would cost more than a million dollars, Nerlove said. The question is whether so small an undertaking would make enough money to cover that expense.

“I can’t invest in something that would put me out of business,” she said.

Kevin Morrison has applied for a micro-winery permit for his Hillwalker Vineyards in the Mount Veeder area of the forested Mayacamas Mountains, northwest of the city of Napa.

Morrison has a 4.5-acre vineyard and since 2019 has made wine on his property in a 1,500-square-foot cave near his house. The county allows people to make up to 200 gallons of wine annually at home, but hold no wine tastings.

Now Morrison wants to bump up the cave's annual wine production past the 200-gallon mark, to the point of someday perhaps using all of the fruit from the vineyard. He wants a micro-winery.

“We’re always going to be tiny by anybody’s standards,” Morrison said.

Having visitors is important because of the economics of selling wine as a small producer. It’s cost-prohibitive to go through multi-step distribution, he said.

“For us to succeed, we have to be able to do it ourselves,” Morrison said. “No one is going to love our product like we do.”

His plan is to host visitors on his porch and lawn. “It would be a very unique, but also a very simple experience,” Morrison said.

He doesn’t begrudge Napa County for being careful about growth. But he’d like to see a path so more than corporations and the extremely wealthy can be in the winery game, he said.

The revised state fire safety standards pose a challenge for Morrison. He might have to add turnouts and make other improvements to a gravel road. That road is near a stream, which could kick the application from the zoning administrator to the Planning Commission.

Morrison isn’t certain that seeking a micro-winery permit will be less expensive than seeking a winery permit. And a winery permit would come with fewer restrictions. Yet at this point, he’s still giving it a try.

“Maybe I’m the eternal optimist,” he said, adding the micro-winery concept is worthy of attempting to make work.

John Chaix is part of Chaix Family Vineyards, a Napa Valley grape-growing operation dating to the late 1800s.

“I believe that it is overdue to allow the small growers a seat at the table,” Chaix said. “The intent of the (micro-winery) streamline process was admirable.”

Chaix Wines uses a custom crush for its wines. Chaix wants to make between 201 and 5,000 gallons annually on site and have limited visitation — the definition of a micro-winery.

Chaix recently applied for a micro-winery permit and expressed optimism about securing one. He said the family has done its homework and believes the micro-winery approach is a good fit.

“I still believe the micro-winery permit process is less burdensome and more streamlined than a full winery permit,” Chaix said.

Changing Napa County’s micro-winery law to attain more streamlining may not be in the cards, at least for now.

Belia Ramos, chair of the Board of Supervisors, said the county worked with Save the Family Farms on the law for three years. It tried to address the group’s concerns.

However, the county can't streamline state laws for the environmental, fire access, building code, and groundwater and wastewater requirements. She also mentioned such factors as county growth laws, fair treatment of all businesses, and striking a balance among various community interests.

“Given the competing concerns, we believe that the adopted ordinance represents the best achievable solution and (is) a substantial improvement over previous regulations,” Ramos said in an email.

The county has no plans to revisit the micro-winery law at present, but remains receptive to suggestions for enhancements, she said.

Save the Family Farms has suggestions. The group is starting with the way Napa County interprets the revised state minimum fire safe road regulations.

O’Meara wants the county to take what he calls a “commonsense” approach. He doesn’t think a micro-winery generating just eight round trips a day should face the same expensive road standards as a large winery generating many times that traffic.

For its part, Napa County officials have talked about interpreting the state rules in a way that stands up to potential legal challenges.

“We’re working with Save the Family Farms to see if there’s any regulatory relief in the state standards,” said Patrick Ryan, county deputy director of Planning, Building and Environmental Services.

Save the Family Farms is busy on another front. The group has established a “verified Napa Valley micro-producer” designation and the list that can be viewed at www.savethefamilyfarms.com.

Wine enthusiasts can use the list if they want to do business with small producers who meet micro-winery standards.

“They are working with a small family farm,” Nerlove said. “They are working with someone who produces 2,000 cases a year or less.”

She would also like to establish a Napa County micro-winery trail. But first, the county needs some micro-wineries to put on the map.

Workers move a terracotta sculpture in Napa's Rail Arts District along the Napa Valley Wine Train tracks at Vallejo Street.

Joe Lemas helps his son, Owen, 5, pick out comic books during a free comic book day at Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

Comic books for sale are seen in Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

Dominic Lemas, 10, looks at comics during a free comic book day at Zeppelin Comics in downtown Napa on May 6.

Dan Curtis, co-owner of Zeppelin Comics in Napa, helps a customer inside the Main Street store.

An interactive gaming space that can be rented is seen in Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

Visitors are seen at Zeppelin Comics in Napa on a free comic book day Saturday, May 6.

Comic books for sale are seen in Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

Custom designed t-shirts are seen for sale in Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

Candles for sale are seen in Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

Comic books for sale are seen in Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

people line up for free comic book day at Zeppelin Comics in Napa on Saturday, May 6.

You can reach Barry Eberling at 707-256-2253 or [email protected]

Here are some of Napa County's rules for micro-wineries:

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