A bottle of wine might become a little more expensive, but many wineries believe it will be worth it.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to approve the creation of a Wine Business Improvement District for wineries across the county.
The new BID will impose a 1% assessment on every bottle or glass of wine sold to customers by members of the district.
The assessment will affect tasting room sales, wine clubs, events, food, merchandise and more.
Annual revenue generated from the assessment is expected to be $1.5 million a year.
The Santa Barbara County Vintners Association will manage the district, and revenue from the assessment will be used to encourage tourism in the region. The association is a nonprofit organization that promotes Santa Barbara County as a tourist destination and is supported by member dues.
Alison Laslett, CEO of the Vintners Association, said the money collected from members of the Wine Business Improvement District will be used primarily for marketing and brand awareness. It also will fund events, community engagement, and government and industry education.
“There are other areas of improvement that we are considering that will be decided by the board once it is formed,” Laslett said.
She added that the money collected from the assessment is required to be spent on programs and activities that benefit the wineries paying into the BID.
The district will include all eight cities in Santa Barbara County, and all wineries in those cities will be included in the marketing materials.
Lompoc was the lone holdout for the wine district but changed course during a special meeting on Friday. The Lompoc City Council voted 3-0 to join the BID after Councilman Victor Vega decided to support it. All other North County and South County cities have also opted in.
Wineries in the Lompoc region would have been left off marketing materials produced by the BID if the council had not changed its mind.
The Santa Barbara City Council voted to join the BID on Feb. 4.
The response from the public ranged from enthusiastic support to concern about how the assessment will work.
Stephen Janes, who was part of a group of supporters, thanked the supervisors and county staff for their work in developing the BID. He said that despite their differences, the proposal had connected many of the wineries across the county.
“To have over 60% or close to 60% on board and unified, it’s been really remarkable to see. And in so many ways, this issue has actually brought us all closer together,” Janes said.
One of the other speakers was Kate Griffith of Flying Goat Cellars. She asked for a commitment from the Vintners Association that it would provide wineries with technical or financial support with their sales systems.
“Winery owners should not incur any expense for collecting the Wine BID assessment,” Griffith said. “Also, there should be transparency for customers to see the Wine BID assessment and the additional tax placed on it for their orders.”
During deliberations, Supervisor Joan Hartmann responded to claims that the BID would benefit millionaire wineries by joking that she almost asked if all of the millionaires in the room would please stand up.
Hartmann added that wineries that draw in billions of dollars do not need a BID and can afford to handle their own marketing and legal fees. She added that the BID also benefits other industries in the county by encouraging tourism.
“It seems to me that this is a way for wineries across the board to pool their resources together and be able to advertise, really, the Santa Barbara brand,” Hartmann said.
