A struggling Napa Valley winery is ready to crush the competition, launching a plan to welcome more visitors and increase production, but residents in the area aren’t happy about it.
On Tuesday, the Bremer Family Winery requested permission from the Napa Valley Planning Commission to do a total upgrade on its winery in hopes of growing amid a crisis in the wine industry in California.
In a request to the commission the Howell Mountain winery in Deer Park asked to change its existing use permit in order to “increase production” and “increase annual visitation.”
And those changes are significant, with the winery hoping to increase foot traffic to their tasting room from 3,600 to 12,500 guests a year, according to the Napa Valley Register.
In addition, it hopes to massively increase production from 15,000 to 50,000 gallons a year at the winery.
Located in an area known for its big Bordeaux varietals and Zinfandels, the winery also asked for permission to “increase the number of employees” and to “allow on-site consumption.”
In 2002, the winery property consisted of 47 acres. Since that time it has “added 63 surrounding acres to bring the winery total to 110 acres,” per its website.
“We have received our permits to add about another 40 acres of vineyard and are currently in the process of adding these new vineyards.”
In order to accommodate all the wine-lovers, the winery also asked the county to “allow for an exception from requiring the installation of a left turn lane on Deer Park Road.” It also asked for them to allow for the construction of “an additional driveway connection to Deer Park Road and increase on-site parking,” per the agenda.
The winery also said that if it did have to install a left turn lane, it would mean the removal of nearly two dozen trees and a stone wall that’s been on the property for more than 100 years.
But residents aren’t keen about all the proposed changes and are worried about what the increased level of visitors and roadway changes will do to traffic in the area.
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One resident said that the county must make the left turn lane mandatory, pointing to how busy that intersection always is with fast moving cars, per the report.
Another person pointed out that Deer Park Road is the main route students from a nearby college use and it’s already busy.
At the meeting, the staff recommended adopting the wineries request, with the issue continuing until a planning meeting in July.
The Post reached out to the Napa Valley Planning Commission and the winery for further comment.
