Petaluma Gap AVA

The Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance Board Meeting on Monday had a number of visitors. Tom Wark, a well-respected wineblogger came and spoke about establishing a Petaluma Gap AVA. He thought that if ever there was an area deserving of an AVA, the Petaluma Gap exemplified such a place. Such an effort would require, however, far more cash than is in the PGap kitty.

There are many in the community who would love to see the Petaluma Gap established as an AVA. However, the current AVA, Sonoma Coast, offers at least two advantages. According to Michael McNiel from Hanzell Winery, "the first is 'Sonoma' and the second is 'Coast'". For consumers in Iowa or Manhattan, what does "Petaluma Gap" mean? It certainly has a very real meaning for us growers here in Petaluma, but even local wine consumers have no idea what it is.

There may be a Petaluma Gap AVA in our future, but there is a lot of groundwork to be laid before we make it a government-controlled-and-mandated labeling issue.

One board member feared this road so much that he surreptitiously invited just grower members to pack the board meeting. He had unsuccessfully tried to stifle the discussion, arguing that we should not even hear from Tom Wark. But this discussion clearly was and remains a part of our organization's mandate. In the four days since the board meeting, the other members of the board have asked for and received the lone board member's resignation, arguing that his actions have been to undermine the board repeatedly, even after being voted down on issues. His constituency had been solely grape growers, ignoring the implications of an interdependent wine industry that needs cooperation between growers, winemakers and consumers.

The Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance was originally called The Petaluma Gap Wine & Grape Alliance. Our "Lone Ranger" was the 2008 President of the organization, taking charge by virtue of acquiring matching funds from the Sonoma County Grape Commission. Part of getting the matching funds was the condition that we be a Grower organization. That was initiated by changing the name of the organization, and constituting the Alliance as a Wingrowers Alliance. This was done with the consent of a cash-blinded board, changing a grassroots community organization into one that represented only one tier of the community. The implications of this strategic blunder were felt fully over the course of the past year, with our Lone Ranger consistently arguing to limit our organization's activities to those that benefit only growers. When I joined the Board, there had not yet been a single public event, such as a wine tasting. Our events were limited to our own private parties, where we drank our own wine, and patted ourselves on the back for doing a great job.

Much work remains to get us back on track as an effective grassroots alliance, but I am cautiously optimistic that we can do it. I am hopeful that we can wean ourselves from the dollar-spouting teat of "Others' Milk".