With a unanimous vote by the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, the final step in creating the new Lodi Winery Business Improvement District has been completed.
Local wineries that have been hoping for this moment for years are relieved.
“I’m very excited to be able to share Lodi Appalachian wines and really broaden the reach that we’ll be able to talk to more customers, bring more customers out to Lodi and really share the great experience that we can here,” Jeremy Wine Company Owner Jeremy Trettevik shared.
Trettevik is one of the potential board members who will be part of the new business district.
He’s looking forward to the change and hopes this will not only help wineries but also the entire community.
“This brings more visitors into our region, which improves the visitation of restaurants and allows them to improve their services,” he said. “Of course, wineries will benefit by more visitation, but this is something that’s broadly good for our community.
The idea stems from what other wine regions in California have already established over the years, like Temecula and Santa Barbara.
For a region that has seen a decrease in sales over the years, which has forced wineries to pull thousands of acres of vines, they hope this 1.5% assessment added to the total bill when purchasing products at tasting rooms will bring more people to the area.
Its purpose is to put the money towards marketing and promotion of local wineries with the hope of bringing in nearly $630,000 per year.
“If we can capture more sales directly here in Lodi, the whole community is going to benefit,” Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director Stuart Spencer explained. “Our wineries are going to benefit, the employees are going to benefit, the grape growers are going to benefit and we’ll all be successful.”
On the other hand, some small wineries are concerned.
Last month, CBS Sacramento spoke with some who worry this assessment will drive their loyal customers away. For them, their tasting rooms are their main source of income.
“We’re just a small boutique winery,” Intercoastal Wine Company Rachele Spaletta said in October. “We rely on our local business to come into our wineries. 85-90% is our local business. It’s just our personal decision that we really don’t want to have our consumers paying for the marketing of the region.”
The Winegrape Commission says this will help all wineries, big or small.
“We value everyone’s input,” Spencer continued. “We value what they’ve created here and we look forward to working with them to move the region forward.”
Now, the commission is in the process of getting its initial board together, which Spencer says also includes owners of small wineries.
The new Lodi Wine Business Improvement District goes into effect starting in January.
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