In its final meeting of 2024, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to move one more step toward establishing the Santa Barbara County Wine Improvement District with the Santa Barbara Vintners.
The district would fund marketing to boost Santa Barbara County as a wine destination for tourists from around the world.
The county’s approval Tuesday activates two meetings: one on Jan. 14 and the second on Feb. 11.
On Jan. 14, the public will be allowed to testify on the formation of the district, which would levy a one-percent assessment on all direct-to-consumer sales. The board of supervisors will not take any action during this hearing.
The Feb. 11 meeting would be the final one, during which the resolution could be formally adopted by the supervisors, making the county the lead agency.
With adoption, the newly formed district would start assessments on sales come April 2025.
If approved, the Santa Barbara County Wine Improvement District (SBCWID) would become California’s fourth special wine district. Other regions, including San Luis Obispo County, have similar assessment districts in the works.
Santa Barbara Vintners CEO Alison Laslett explained that the BID would likely generate between $1.5 and $1.6 million annually to better market Santa Barbara’s wine country. The SBV’s current operating budget is just $600,000 annually, she noted.
With the BID’s funding, “We could bring representation and visitation to our region like we never have before,” Laslett told the board.
More than 100 wineries, or more than 59 percent of those who would be assessed, have signed petitions supporting the SBV’s efforts toward the BID, she said.
Temecula’s wine region enjoyed an 18-percent increase in visitation from September 2022 to September 2023 following the adoption of a similar BID, according to documents presented during the meeting.
Six people addressed the supervisors regarding the proposed BID, with five voicing support and just one opposition. Steve Pepe, co-owner since 1998 of Clos Pepe Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills, told the supervisors the proposed BID faces “significant legal issues” and should be “voluntary,” and not a mandatory assessment.
Of those favoring the BID, Pierre LaBarge IV, owner of LaBarge Winery in the Sta. Rita Hills, noted that back in 2019, when the SBV proposed its first BID, he was a staunch opponent.
LaBarge, current president of the SBV Board of Directors, described how in the years since he studied both sides of the issue and talked with winemakers who supported such an assessment, and now it has his full allegiance.
“As BIDs continue to get formed by other (wine) regions of California, we will simply get passed by” without one, LaBarge said.
Stephen Janes, estate director for Gainey Estate, also championed the proposed assessment, calling himself “100 percent in support.”
The proposed BID “will guarantee the ability to promote Santa Barbara County wine country as a destination to visit for consumers around the world.”
