Vineyard sues over wine-tasting order
Phase 2 reopening allows sale of wine only with meals
Why can wineries reopen for wine-enhanced meals but not wine tastings?
That question is the basis of a federal lawsuit filed by Caymus Vineyards against California, in which the Napa
County winery accuses Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state’s health officer, Sonia Y. Angell, of applying a double standard to businesses during the COVID-19 Phase 2 reopening period.
“If it’s safe for restaurants and other wineries to serve meals, it’s undeniably safe for wineries to open for tastings. Our lawsuit makes a simple demand — that we be treated fairly and equally,” Chuck Wagner, who co-founded Caymus Vineyards in 1972 with his family, said in a statement. “We take public health laws seriously, and we’re not asking for special treatment.”
A spokesman for California’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, which oversees Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
The state’s May 12 COVID-19 directive for Phase 2 reopenings ordered “brewpubs, breweries, bars, pubs, craft distilleries and wineries” to “remain closed … unless they are offering sit-down, dine-in meals. Alcohol can only be sold in the same transaction as a meal.”
Michael Carlson, vice president and general counsel for Caymus, said in a statement that those rules “provide no explanation for the disparate and unfair treatment between wineries that serve food and those that do not.”
He added: “The double standard of allowing restaurants and wineries that serve food to reopen while prohibiting wineries from conducting wine tastings alone is both unconscionable and unconstitutional. Napa County is allowing wineries to expand their outdoor tasting space to accommodate social distancing. The state’s guidance is not just inconsistent with that allowance, but a damaging impediment.”
Napa County wineries are at a particular disadvantage because of local regulations, according to the suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.
“While the May 12 Order purports to give wineries the option of contracting with a vendor to provide onsite meals, that provision is of no value to Caymus, or nearly any other winery in Napa County. With limited exceptions, Napa County’s 1990 Winery Definition Ordinance (Ordinance No. 947) prohibits all Napa wineries from offering food service.”
Napa wineries may not have restaurants, per se, but several have in-house chefs, including Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena, which reopened Monday for al fresco food and wine service, including wine tastings of Long Meadow Ranch wine.
But Caymus says the ordinance gives an edge to wineries in neighboring Sonoma County that are allowed to serve food.
In the filing, Caymus has vowed to follow all health and safety protocols as required under the reopening regulations, and the Napa County health officer, Dr. Karen Relucio, attested in May 18 documentation submitted to the state that the county’s businesses have “met the readiness criteria.”
The winery further argues that adding food service — particularly from an outside vendor — would increase the public health risk.
“Food service increases the number of people and surfaces with which customers come into contact, introduces risk of the virus’ spread associated with food sourcing and preparation, and introduces risks specific to interior, dine-in spaces,” the suit says.
Besides an order allowing all California winery tasting rooms to reopen under Phase 2, Caymus’ lawsuit also seeks compensatory relief.
“While restaurants and wineries offering sit-down meals are permitted to reopen, Caymus continues to suffer the loss of revenue from its tasting room and associated wine sales,” the suit argues.
“Caymus has suffered significant economic losses related to the ordered closure of its tasting room. Those losses increase each day and continue to rise as the summer approaches.”