Dry Creek winery plans raise hackles

Special events draw criticism from rural neighbors
Dry Creek Valley Citizens Advisory Council members have recommended denial of a permit to allow numerous special events at the Michel-Schlumberger winery on rural Wine Creek Rd.
Promotional parties with up to 200 guests plus public tours and tastings are planned at the winery where neighbors say public tasting and ongoing special events already take place in violation of the winery’s existing county use permit.
“It’s outrageous,” said Dry Creek Valley Citizens Advisory Council member and Dry Creek Valley resident Charlee Schanzer. The winery has no approved permit for special events or public tasting but continues to offer them anyway, “grossly and blatantly” ignoring current use permit limits, said Schanzer.
Michel-Schlumberger needs to complete more studies to assess traffic impacts on narrow Wine Creek Rd. as well as on West Dry Creek Rd. in the vicinity of the winery before any new permit gets approved, said the Dry Creek Citizens Advisory Council (DCCAC) recommendation. Cumulative impacts of tasting room traffic and promotional events offered at other nearby wineries should also be addressed prior to issuing any new permit, said the DCVCAC.
Michel-Schlumberger is seeking a use permit to allow daily public tasting and tours plus 36 special events with up to 35 guests, five events with up to 50 guests, and four events with up to 200 attendees, with meals prepared on-site. The winery’s application also asks for approval of seven industry-wide events totaling up to 16 “event days,” which would give the winery permission for a total of 61 event days per year, according to the winery’s use permit application.
The Advisory Council’s recommendation to deny the project as proposed will next go to the Sonoma County Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) at a public hearing for which no date has yet to be announced, said Sonoma County Permit & Resource Management Department (PRMD) Planner Sigrid Swedenborg. The BZA will then make a recommendation to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Swedenborg said the winery got an approved 2009 use permit for public tasting and special events that reflect the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors’ approval of the project — even though the old permit, issued to former owner Jacques Schlumberger, expired before county conditions, including road improvements, were completed.
Neighbors and Michel-Schlumberger have long been wrangling over the winery’s permit conditions, but neighbors say permit compliance issues have escalated since former owner Jacques Schlumberger sold the approximately 80-acre upscale winery and vineyard to Steve Adams of the Adams Wine Group three years ago.
Michel-Schlumberger’s marketing strategy of selling direct to consumers includes a large wine club whose members pay to attend winery events such as Kentucky Derby Day when attendees can taste wine, watch televised horse races and participate in Derby Day events such as a contest for best hat. A Mother’s Day champagne brunch ($55 for wine club members) this year included “sparkling wine under the oaks followed by a walking tour of our gorgeous estate,” said the Michel-Schlumberger website.
An exclusive wine club dinner under the stars ($99) last month included a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception followed by a three-course “wine dinner under the stars,” said the invitation. “After dinner, dance the night away to live music.”
 Special events are an important part of the winery’s operation, said Michel-Schlumberger General Manager Gary Hawke.
  “Wine club members want you to have events,” said Hawke. “Having none puts you at a distinct competitive disadvantage” in the Dry Creek Valley wine context.
“We try to do everything we can to be a good neighbor,” said Hawke. “We do everything we can to keep traffic down. We’ve done everything we can to be good citizens and good neighbors. We encourage neighbors who have an issue to contact the winery,” said Hawke.   “They are welcome to stop in and discuss whatever they have on their mind. We are certainly willing to address whatever issues we need to address,” said Hawke.
“We do have a permit,” said Hawke. “It’s not like were operating without permits.”
The winery has completed a traffic sight distance analysis that determined traffic sightlines are adequate at the Wine Creek Rd. location, said the PRMD report on the project.
“Based on the review performed, it appears that sight distance is adequate for the conditions present … and no improvements are needed,” said the analysis conducted by Dalene Whitlock of Whitlock & Weinberger Transportation, Inc., the winery’s traffic consultant.