Can a Tiny Fee on Every Bottle Save California’s Wine Countries?
Not so long ago, “we’re going to wine country” was a typical weekend plan for folks everywhere from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. That’s not so much the case anymore, as California’s wine industry struggles to attract the kinds of crowds that were steady for decades and then surged during the pandemic. While certain wineries continue to thrive, and in some cases grow, the general trend is that wine sales are slacking and tasting room traffic is sparse.
Could a nearly invisible fee on every bottle sold rejuvenate a passion for visiting these regions and buying their wines? Numerous appellations across the Golden State are betting on it.
Employing a relatively new concept called a “wine improvement district,” appellations like Temecula, Livermore, Santa Barbara, and Amador County are now tacking on an extra 1 to 2% fee on every bottle sold in their regions to enhance the coffers of their vintners associations. Lodi and Santa Cruz Mountains just enacted their own, while regions like Paso Robles to Sonoma have flirted with the notion as well.
Temecula, which was the first to adopt the strategy, raised $500,000 on their 1% fee, which they credit for a rise in tasting room visits that bucks the statewide shrinkage. The Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association claims to have more than tripled their media coverage, and claim a nearly 2,000% bump in digital impressions on their content.
The prevailing belief in these regions is that consumers willing to pay $35 for a bottle of wine won’t mind the 35 to 70 cents more. Yet at scale, such pocket change generates significant money to be spent on marketing—Santa Barbara originally estimated more than $1.5 million annually with their 1% fee. While consumers may not notice the incremental price jump, they likely will start to see much more advertising and editorial coverage of wine regions they love—and, perhaps more importantly, ones they’ve never visited.
“One of the massive benefits of a wine district is that it stabilizes the industry’s association,” says Alison Laslett, the head of the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association. “We can plan, we can strategize, and we can build promotional campaigns and educational programs that move the needle on the industry’s bottom line. Everyone wants that.”
Big Reactions to a Small Tax
Santa Barbara’s first attempt to pass the fee backfired against mostly philosophical opposition in 2020. Thanks to more education—and perhaps a much more dire state of the industry—this year’s attempt was a resounding success.
Paso Robles and the SLO Coast regions collectively considered the idea in 2024, exploring how it worked elsewhere and whether it could help them. “Ultimately, we decided the timing wasn’t right, and it’s not a priority for us at this moment,” says Joel Peterson, head of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. “That said, it’s a tool we understand well now and could revisit down the road if conditions change, especially if more and more regions pass these.”
The mightiest opposition arose this year in Sonoma County, which would have been the largest appellation to create a wine improvement district. The naysayers came out loudly before the idea could move much at all.
// Create the element
var script_6952ecb23df47 = document.createElement(“script”);
script_6952ecb23df47.innerHTML = `
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
var adType = “leaderboard”;
var mapping;
var lbmapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1024, 0], [[970, 250], [970, 90], [1, 1], [728, 90]])
.addSize([728, 0], [[728, 90], [1, 1]])
.addSize([320, 0], [[1, 1], [300, 50], [300, 100], [320, 50], [320, 100]])
.addSize([0, 0], [[1, 1], [320, 50]])
.build();; // Size mapping for leaderboard ads
var medrecmapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1024, 0], [[300, 600],[300, 250]])
.addSize([728, 0], [300, 250])
.addSize([320, 0], [[1, 1],[300, 250]])
.addSize([0, 0], [[1, 1], [300, 250]])
.build(); // Size mapping for med rectengle ads
if(‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’ == ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’
|| ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’ == ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’
|| ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’ == ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_3’) {
mapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1920, 0], [[728, 90]]) // >= 1920px
.addSize([1440, 0], [[728, 90]]) // 1440px-1919px
.addSize([730, 0], [[300, 250]]) // 730px-1439px
.addSize([0, 0], [[320, 100], [320, 50], [300, 100], [300, 50], [300, 250]]) // Up to 729px
.build();
} else {
mapping = adType == ‘leaderboard’ ? lbmapping : medrecmapping;
}
googletag.defineSlot(‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’, [],
‘div-gpt-ad-6952ecb23df47’).addService(googletag.pubads()).defineSizeMapping(mapping);
googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest();
googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs();
googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-6952ecb23df47’);
});
`;
// Append the script to the body
document.body.appendChild(script_6952ecb23df47);
Veteran vintner Adam Lee of Clarice Wine Company rallied the opponents, arguing that simply raising more money to throw at marketing is not the solution to wine country woes. “Without any real new marketing ideas, it’s really a problem,” he says. “We need new ideas, and then we need the proper funding. This is putting the cart before the horse.”
Sonoma County Vintners put the idea on the backburner, and then quickly restructured and laid off staff in the name of efficiency. They are now directly in talks with the county’s grape growing association and tourism bureau to see where there is room to work together in promoting the region.
A wine improvement district could still be in the cards, and supporters of the idea are now trying to educate every winery in the county how it could work. “A lot of people want the plan to be fully baked before we start the conversation,” says Alexandra Gorman, the vice president of community relations for Foley Family Wine & Spirits, which owns brands in both Santa Barbara and Sonoma. “The reality is that we need to bake it together. We need to figure out what ingredients we want. We just want to figure out the best way to work together for the county.”
Fresh Funding Ideas: Desperately Needed
If the momentum does continue, it may be that creating a wine improvement district becomes a required way to stay competitive with other California wine regions. Similar improvement districts are how most tourism bureaus are funded, albeit via hotel room fees.
The most cautionary tale in this regard would be the Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association. After more than four decades of representing the region’s wine interests, the organization disbanded in April due largely to lack of funding.
But Lee views a wine improvement district in every region as more of a race to the bottom than anything. “I don’t see how that ultimately benefits anybody,” he says.
// Create the element
var script_6952ecb23e564 = document.createElement(“script”);
script_6952ecb23e564.innerHTML = `
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
var adType = “leaderboard”;
var mapping;
var lbmapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1024, 0], [[970, 250], [970, 90], [1, 1], [728, 90]])
.addSize([728, 0], [[728, 90], [1, 1]])
.addSize([320, 0], [[1, 1], [300, 50], [300, 100], [320, 50], [320, 100]])
.addSize([0, 0], [[1, 1], [320, 50]])
.build();; // Size mapping for leaderboard ads
var medrecmapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1024, 0], [[300, 600],[300, 250]])
.addSize([728, 0], [300, 250])
.addSize([320, 0], [[1, 1],[300, 250]])
.addSize([0, 0], [[1, 1], [300, 250]])
.build(); // Size mapping for med rectengle ads
if(‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’ == ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_1’
|| ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’ == ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’
|| ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’ == ‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_3’) {
mapping = googletag.sizeMapping()
.addSize([1920, 0], [[728, 90]]) // >= 1920px
.addSize([1440, 0], [[728, 90]]) // 1440px-1919px
.addSize([730, 0], [[300, 250]]) // 730px-1439px
.addSize([0, 0], [[320, 100], [320, 50], [300, 100], [300, 50], [300, 250]]) // Up to 729px
.build();
} else {
mapping = adType == ‘leaderboard’ ? lbmapping : medrecmapping;
}
googletag.defineSlot(‘/39808611/article_page/article_leaderboard_2’, [],
‘div-gpt-ad-6952ecb23e564’).addService(googletag.pubads()).defineSizeMapping(mapping);
googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest();
googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs();
googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-6952ecb23e564’);
});
`;
// Append the script to the body
document.body.appendChild(script_6952ecb23e564);
Rather, he’d like to see a statewide district that can create initiatives similar to the “I Love New York” campaign. “The budget would be astronomical, and it would address the bigger problem of people just not drinking,” says Lee.
Gorman likes that idea too, recognizing that something new is needed to promote California wine, whatever the funding mechanism.
“There’s been a lot of rinse-and-repeating,” she says of wine marketing in recent years. “Well, the world has shifted. People are more attached to their phones. We meet in smaller groups. They’re tasting differently. We need to figure out a better way to communicate that and bring people to our regions.”
More Industry Coverage
- The Michelin man is coming for wine. Should critics be worried?
- Gen Z and millennials are here to save the wine industry … if it’s willing to listen.
- Here’s why we named Barefoot our American winery of the year.
- As wine production plummets in California, small producers seize the moment.
- What will be the biggest drinks trends of 2026? Happy hour, hyper luxury, and dirty martini madness.
In the Shop
Flex Your Collection
Transform your home into a wine lover’s paradise with a custom wine cellar. From design to functionality, Wine Enthusiast can create the perfect storage solution.
The post Can a Tiny Fee on Every Bottle Save California’s Wine Countries? appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.
