“Why Wine Matters” to Santa Barbara County’s economy was the focus of an educational forum Thursday at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott in Buellton, during which the region’s winemakers sang the praises of the cultural, community and economic benefits of the region’s wine industry.
The nonprofit EconAlliance, which offers support for key northern Santa Barbara County industries, partnered with Santa Barbara Vintners to host the event, which brought together vineyard owners and viticulturists, winemakers, and business and community leaders in an effort to highlight the county’s wine industry.
Joe Halsell, board president of the EconAlliance and CEO of Halsell Builders, opened the event by discussing the economic benefits of the county’s wine industry, which includes about 250 wineries and provides thousands of local jobs and millions of dollars in tax income.
Alison Laslett, CEO of Santa Barbara Vintners, released detailed figures before the forum. While the economic value of the region’s harvested wine grapes is more than $146 million, the annual total economic impact of the wine sector in Santa Barbara County is $1.75 billion, with full-time equivalent jobs numbering 10,000.
Furthermore, nearly 1 million wine-related tourists spend $205 million in the county, creating a positive tax impact of $93 million. The charitable contributions of the wine industry help support community services, with the wine industry providing more than $1 million annually in auction contributions, wine donations and venues, according to Laslett.
The county’s wine industry features more than 250 wineries, 21,500 vineyard acres and 70 grape varietals that thrive in the Mediterranean-like climate — mild winters, hot summers and a persistent marine layer on the coast.
Halsell introduced keynote speaker Robert McMillan, executive vice president and founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s wine division. He is the only banker ever named as one of the “Top 50 Most Influential People in the United States Wine Industry.” For 20 years, McMillan has authored the highly regarded annual “State of the Wine Industry Report.”
From a national perspective, McMillan said, the wine industry hit its stride in 1994 — well before craft beer and craft spirits “took off” and created what is now “serious competition” for the wine industry.
(Deborah Chadsey / Noozhawk photo)
In March 2017, the nation saw “the first negative sales in wine,” with the $9-per-bottle-and-below market “falling apart” and the premium wine market (above $9 per bottle) still growing “but more slowly,” McMillan said.
That trend continued into 2018, he said, and by year’s end, the top seven wine companies in the United States displayed negative 7 percent in growth.
In order to reverse that ominous slide, the nation’s wineries need to lure millennials — who have displayed “no movement into premium wine sales within the last four years” — into tasting rooms with the agricultural “destination” experience, details about calories in wine, and outdoor activities or games, he noted.
After presenting the audience with hard facts, McMillan joked that perhaps he wouldn’t be invited to return, but he emphasized how regions such as Napa County and Paso Robles have gained a strong foothold by making wine tasting a “destination experience,” a process with which Santa Barbara County has struggled.
Indeed, as Laslett noted when she later spoke, “Santa Barbara County’s (tasting room) visitation rate is only half of the national rate.”
In addition, the county faces a persistent division between business growth and politicians, McMillan noted: “The community here has not yet found common ground (regarding continued development), and finding that is part of the political process. I hope you develop less restrictive rules.”
While McMillan painted a harsh but realistic view of wine sales, primarily at the direct-to-consumer level, both Laslett and the panelists, all family winemakers, voiced pride in Santa Barbara County’s wines and vineyards.
Before introducing the panelists, Laslett shared how the local wine industry welcomed her with open arms — and ultimately, temporary housing — when she started her position in November 2018, just before the devastating Thomas Fire and mudslides.
“I saw how the community in this county pulled together in the wake of the fire and floods,” she said.
The forum’s panel discussion, titled “The Legacy Investment of Wine Country Vintners,” was moderated by Bion Rice, longtime CEO and winemaking director of Sunstone Winery, which was founded by his family. Sunstone was the 24th bonded winery in Santa Barbara County, Rice recalled.
Forum organizers chose panelists who would “reflect our community’s investment in the wine industry,” Laslett noted. Indeed, Rice said: “We’re not doing this for the money but for the lifestyle.”
The panelists were Katie Grassini, CEO of Grassini Family Vineyards; David Lafond, general manager of Lafond Winery & Vineyards; his sister, Michelle Lafond, marketing director of the Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Winery; and Marshall Miller, vice president of operations for The Thornhill Companies, which includes Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills, the Miller Family Wine Co., Thornhill Ranches and Bagshaw Investments.
Rice directed the panelists to outline the challenges they face as vintners (water and sustainability), the rewards (the community of wine, and legacies for children and grandchildren) and future hurdles (sales).
With the exception of Miller, whose parents and grandparents farmed in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties starting in the late 1880s, the panelists’ families relocated to Santa Barbara County and planted vines in anticipation of either retirement, in the case of Grassini’s parents, or in a move that ultimately led to a second career, in the case of the Lafond siblings’ father, an architect who moved to Santa Barbara for work in the 1950s.
Katie Grassini, the eldest of four daughters, followed her father into a career as an attorney before stepping away to lead her family’s winery. Her father now calls planting a vineyard on a former cattle ranch in Happy Canyon “the best thing I ever did,” she noted.
Michelle Lafond echoed her about the merits of working closely with family, noting that between Lafond’s wine and retail clothing enterprises, “everywhere I go on a daily basis, I see a family member.”
Miller emphasized that Santa Barbara County vintners “live in a special place with a special climate” where most in the business have a deep commitment to sustainability of their vineyards.
All four noted how “wine builds community,” and that ultimately, having a glass of wine is about sharing the history of the place where that wine has been made.
David Lafond, harkening back to McMillan’s emphasis on how wineries need to highlight the agricultural experience, drew laughs when he described how visitors eager to escape Los Angeles for a day or weekend “get so excited when they see our resident chicken” on the way to the tasting room.
Miller perhaps best summarized the panel’s mood when, in closing, he noted how local vintners emphasize “sense of place” in both crafting and tasting wines: “Santa Barbara County’s wines can only be made here!”
The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians was the premier event sponsor. Additional sponsors were Coastal Vineyard Care Associates, Allan Hancock College, Comcast, Aera and Pacific Gas & Electric, according to an event brochure.
— Laurie Jervis blogs about wine at www.centralcoastwinepress.com, tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.