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PrintWine tasting runs amok?
Or, do tasting rooms revive Plaza business?
Danny Fay of Envolve Winery at his Plaza tasting room
Robbi Pengelly/Index-Tribune
With 24 wine tasting rooms on or immediately adjacent to it, the Sonoma Plaza is fast becoming an alcohol-besotted tourist trap, or, as one critic put it, “a Wine Country theme park,” so crowded with outsiders and drunks that local residents no longer feel comfortable there.
That’s one point of view.
Or, the proliferation of Plaza tasting rooms has created a rich, appealing and increasingly profitable business model, filling once-vacant storefronts and bringing new life to the Plaza, drawing crowds of locals along with the tourists, all of whom enjoy the amenities of sipping wide varieties of wine in comfortable surroundings in a historic setting.
Determining which perspective is more accurate, and what – if anything – to do about it, has occupied the time of both the Planning Commission, Dec. 13, and the City Council, March 18.
And while the conversation is far from over, the two schools of thought have drawn clear lines.
Former mayor Larry Barnett told the council on Monday, “People I talk to don’t like it. They avoid the Plaza.” Barnett complained that there is “no upper limit” on the number of tasting rooms, that some of them have “morphed” into wine bars where people sit drinking full glasses of wine.
But Scott Peterson, with Rumpus Cellars on First Street East, argued, “I don’t think we have a problem. We are heavily regulated, and bonded by ABC (the State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control), we’re open noon to 7 p.m. This town is founded on wine. I’m a part of that, I intend to persevere.”
Before the council was a set of regulation options that included, 1) setting standard operating requirements; 2) requiring use permit review; and 3) some combination of both.
Barnett has urged an actual moratorium on more tasting rooms until some further regulation is in place.
Of nine public speakers, four opposed further regulation and one – Gina Cuclis – proposed greater efforts to train tasting room staff in responsible beverage serving.
But not everyone agreed that tasting rooms are significantly responsible for the over-consumption of alcohol.
Danny Fay of Envolve Winery, which has a Plaza tasting room, said he already holds ABC’s responsible serving classes for his staff, and he encourages “limited” pours. “We don’t like drunks in our tasting rooms,” he insisted. “You consume more wine in a restaurant than you do in a tasting room.”
Councilmember Steve Barbose called it “a tricky issue” and said his emails are running “20-to-one that we have a problem.”
Councilmember David Cook, who owns a vineyard management business, countered that “I’m not getting the 20-to-one,” and insisted, “I do not feel we have a problem. Business can regulate itself. If wine tasting rooms become too many, they’ll become fewer.”
Mayor Ken Brown observed that, “I certainly have not lost any interest in being on the Plaza.” And, he pointed out, anyone “can buy (their) own bottle of wine and drink it there.”
Barbose responded that he would “really like to see the level of dialog on this engaged in some critical thinking. …God knows I love a good glass of wine, (but) how would you feel if we had twice as many tasting rooms as we do now?”
Barbose suggested there is good reason to discus some form of increased regulation, although he said he wouldn’t propose a moratorium.
In the end, City Manager Carol Giovanatto suggested a postponement of the discussion to a later date when the absent Mayor Pro Tem Tom Rouse could be present, perhaps in the context of a study session with the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance.
That was agreed to and no further action was taken.
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>>Councilmember Steve Barbose called it "a tricky issue” and said his emails are running “20-to-one that we have a problem.
# of emails is how we deduce we have a problem? perhaps its time to step away from the computer.
I'm a resident. I'm on the square a lot. I've noticed no significant change to drunken debauchery since 2008. In all honesty, I don't want the town culture to shift dramatically but progress goes one way - forward. Do we need more tasting rooms? No. Do we need more tourist oriented restaurants? Not really. Do we need progress, variety, some refreshing - for the locals - for the visitors - for the town? Yes we do.
We need to get away from the sky is falling squawking and move from prevention dialogue to enablement dialogue. Times they are a changing. What do we want our town to be? vs. Chicken LIttle clucking constantly about what we don't want to be.
As a resident and small business owner, I feel that the plaza needs to be interesting for ALL types of tourists and residents. What we need to think about is the whole picture of what that target area has to offer...a little shopping, a little food, some entertainment and perhaps hopefully, something that the locals feel is worth fighting the weekend traffic and visitors to participate in! What about (oh my!) those visitors who are NOT here to taste wine? The wine industry is hugely important here but it not the ONLY industry. I worked in Carmel as a retail manager for many years and watched that town out-price the casual visitor. It suffered as more and more of the visitors out on the streets were 'only looking' (the death knell for small businesses). Please let us not 'Carmelize' Sonoma! Variety is the spice of life...
One could make the case tasting-rooms on the square address a problem... would we rather have wine-tasting-walkers or wine-tasting-drivers on the square?
Sit down with the square's tasting-room owners and they'll tell you visitors are more likely to stumble into their tasting room "figuratively" - not literally. Short of using a map created by 18 of the tasting rooms, visitors are hard-pressed to find them all. Ask most locals to name even 10 tasting-rooms on the square, they too would be hard-pressed.
From a business perspective, it is questionable how many tasting rooms the square could support.
Like the concern with the abundance of real-estate offices on the square that preceded the concern with tasting-rooms, saturation, sales (or lack thereof), available leases and lease rates will slow expansion.
As I clearly stated at the council meeting, my comments about responsible beverage service training were not just aimed at tasting rooms. I discussed the need for employees at all alcohol beverage serving establishments -- bars and restaurants as well as tasting rooms -- should have RBS training. The police chief wrote the city council with a memo stating that the majority of individuals arrested for alcohol related offenses report their place of last drink was a commercial establishment. During the council members discussion, all expressed agreement with me regarding RBS training.
My wife and I published an article in the Index Tribune's real estate section on March 8, 2013 which recounted Sonoma State University's February 27th Economic Forum. One message which was constant throughout the discussion was the need for area residents and governments to recognize that our future economic growth will come from our ability to attract, educate, serve the millions of visitors coming to our county and our towns. If we fail to welcome these visitors, they will simply move on to other areas with our having lost the revenue they would have left in our local economy.
Our Plaza provides for the recreational needs of our citizens, while our retail establishments have by necessity needed to cater to our visitors as demonstrated by the shops and the goods they carry. The article here appears to offer much hearsay about what people think on the matter which varies depending upon who is consulted. Before more is decided on this matter it would appear that more, objective fact finding is necessary. Is there really a problem that can be substantiated law enforcement activity, alcoholic beverage control violations, or other such sources.
Our plaza has evolved to its current mix of tenants slowly over many, many decades. It is not an easy place to make a living due to seasonal tourism patters, weather issues, parking issues, competing summer events, and the economic downturn we have weathered these past five or more years. I know this first hand from my years spent as a commercial leasing agent and from my company having an office on the plaza, and second hand from my daughter having a business in the El Paseo.
Often we find that those who complain the most about changes to our community are those who have newly arrived. I have great respect for our City Council and Planning Commission to deal with this issue appropriately. Let's hope a vocal minority in not given undo influence over our economic well being.
Norm Brown