Alma Rosa Winery Files for Bankruptcy

What, dare I ask, would happen If wine in general were to hit the skids?
The reason I ask this, Is because there are thousands of Vineyards across this Golden State.
I can only guess that there would be many more bankruptcy filings of this type, along with a drop in agricultural land prices.

Wineries are the new Fallafel shops.

When I got pulled over by a cop in Solvang for DAN (Driving At Night) the first thing he asked me was "Have you been drinking"? Almost simultaniously my dad, my sister and I said "we don't drink" and I added--offended at the accusation and fact that I'd been pulled over something to the effect that I wish all the wine bars would disappear. The cop (who eventually let me go once he realized I was anything but drunk) suddenly said "but the wine bars are the source of our economy". I explained that Solvang got along just fine before the wine bars. Anyway, with all the drunks driving around up in the Valley (in part due to the casino and in part due to the wine bars) it's par for the course that you might get pulled over simply for being out at night. Getting back to what the cop--who otherwise seemed like a nice enough guy said--and to the point of this article: When you sink all your eggs into one basket that can be economic catastrophe. Since it's pretty much all-booze-all-the-time up in the valley, if this business failure is indicative of what is to come, the valley and much of California is in BIG trouble.

From an economic standpoint, it isn't good to have just one type of business in a community. Diversification makes more sense.

I've been advocating diversification for SB in general for years instead of just tourism.

This is inevitable; too many coats hung on a single hook...eventually the hook breaks out of the wall and the coats all end up on the floor.

This state has knelt before Bacchus for years, and I've wondered for quite some time now when this situation was going to implode.

All that's needed is a bad grow year or three, a drought, a major El Nino event, a crop-specific blight, or just a decline in the number of available livers which aren't ruined beyond recovery.

So here we are...with the first alcohol factory rolling over and quitting the booze biz. Like the bloated real estate market, the bubble is starting to deflate.

One of the first things we learn in so many of life's areas is diversify, diversify, diversify. Don't hang all the coats on a single hook. Remember during "fiesta" on SB one year there was a train derailment & chemical spill on the Rincon, closing 101 for 3 days while the mess was dealt with? The merchants, et al in SB were frantic at the loss of tourist influx during their big week, because that city is completely dependent on that event. Without it, SB would be a wasteland; merchants who struggle all year just to pay their overpriced rents, licenses, permits, fees and other extortion charges levied in that city are totally dependent on SB's annual celebration of the conquerors. Lose one day of that week and it spells millions in lost revenue.

I live in the SY Valley, ground zero of the alcohol industry. Without it, we're just a nice place where families like to visit, syay, and spend money on food and assorted tchatchkes. With it, the rich yuppies and alcoholics who spend money like water are infusing a tsunami of $ into the local economy.

This area sold out its charm several years ago to the "Sideways" crowd. Once known for horses, flowers and natural beauty, now we are nothing more than a giant bar catering to rich and wanna-be rich drunks...who then get in their behemoth urban assault vehicles, hit the Pass, and lurch back over the hill to Santa Babylon with their cases of bottles rattling in the back seat.

One climate burp, a crop blight, an economic blip and poof! ..all gone...and frankly, many of us would not be sorry to see this alleged "culture" disappear or at least decrease considerably.

Perhaps this farmer might consider raising..oh...FOOD on his land...something that benefits everyone. Or flowers, which are beautiful and enjoyed not just by their recipients, but by people driving by and looking at them.

Rotate and diversity the crops being grown, it's like having a couple of jobs just in case you get laid off or one employer goes out of business...you'll still have a paycheck from the other one.

I find it hard to feel sorry for a farmer who didn't learn one of life's basics, and put all he had into a single crop. Not very smart...

Diversification does make sense.

Tourism creates obvious benefits for owners of hotels, restaurants, bars, wineries, transportation providers, reailers, etc. And there are the associated tax revenues too.

But the majority of jobs created by the above are low-wage service sector jobs.

At this year's Annual UCSB Economic Forecast, it was projected that most of the job growth for the County in 2012 will come from service sector jobs. They showed a slide with a summary of those jobs. As I recall, all but one of them paid ~$20,000 per year.

Channel 71 is showing reruns of the forecast. See www.tvsb.tv for schedule.

A lot of these tourist dollars go out of SB. How many truly local businesses benefit to begin with?

I remember reading an article on Kathy Ireland--I think it might have been on this website--where she was talking about how she invested her money that she made from her days as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. I distinctly remember her saying words to the effect that she diversified her earnings into different ventures. As I recall, a couple of them failed, but the others did well, and overall she's doing very well financially.

The Sanfords are wonderful people, and Richard deserves much recognition and acclaim for his early realization of our region's wine grape-growing potential, for his excellent wines, and for his environmental stewardship. Chapter 11 doesn't mean they stop operations, it means they get to reschedule their debt and hopefully pull through.
As for you sourpuss teatotolers who equate all wine drinking with alcoholism, it makes me chuckle that you are such bad drivers you get pulled over while cold sober.
I am not a fan of the drunken slobs a la Sideways, but come on, get over yourselves. Pretty funny how half the readers of the Indy seem to be pot heads while the other half appears to yearn for Prohibition to return. Whatever happened to "enjoy in moderation", and preferably with a good meal and charming company???

Sorry to rain on your parade Blackpoodles but they pull you over for being out at night. Too long to explain but take my word for it, they pull people over and make up excuses.

As for "enjoy in moderation" I don't care if you get four sheets to the wind plastered, it's your body, I'm not going to try to stop you from drinking alcohol, (since so many people just can't live without it) all I ask is you don't drink and drive.

By the way, if you've noticed any of my previous posts, I am totally opposed to any sort of drug or alcohol prohibition, while not being a drinker or pothead, so your depiction of me is wrong on all counts.

Diversification would be great. All we need now is a more business-friendly environment, beginning with the voters who elect our business-unfriendly governments. There are many articles published in many different media pointing out why businesses avoid California like the plague (just one example - a business that makes no profit still pays a state income tax - it usually takes several years for a new business to become profitable, but in CA they pay income tax just for the privilege of trying to make a profit). Vineyards, obviously, have to be where the terroir is, so can't avoid CA.

That's a poor example, JohnLocke, and misleading in the way you state it as well.

California is one of many States which charges a minimum corporate tax (I think it's about $800 a year). You are playing for doing business as a corporation in California, and for many the benefits are worth it. Incorporating provides liability protection for owners, and tax advantages when profits do come.

Tax advantages such as "write-offs," can apply to the corporation. Home offices and cars can be attributed to the corporation, for example, providing further deductions and liability protection. If the business fails, it is harder for creditors to seize your personal assets.

It's complicated, and incorporation is not for every situation, but to believe you "pay income tax just for the privilege of trying to make a profit" is a simplification which ignores both tangible benefits and real-life incorporating advantages which should be paid for (no free rides!).

And business "avoiding California like the (P)lague" is not supported by any reports I've seen. It would be difficult to compile, as 'avoidance' is an intention not a trackable data point, and would exist largely in anecdote and conjecture.

I'd like to see some research, if it exists.Otherwise, just a talking point.

Hi Bill, I don't drink and drive. I hardly ever drink enough to be over the legal limit anyway. I don't like feeling drunk.
I often drive at night an have only once been pulled over. It was for good reason, I had forgotten to turn on my headlights. And no, I had not had anything to drink, the streetlights were just so bright I forgot it was nighttime. The policeman asked me to recite the alphabet while standing on one leg, or something like that. I did fine, and he let me go without ticketing me, pretty nice guy. I said it looks like half the Indy's readers are potheads, and the other half is composed of teetotalers. I am putting you in the latter group.

I'm in a half all my own.

I said it looks like half the Indy's readers are potheads, and the other half is composed of teetotalers. I am putting you in the latter group.

How about 1/3 teetotalers, 1/3, potheads, and 1/3 drinkers?

On a serious note my dad was almost killed by a buzzed driver with a 0.069 blood alcohol content. Per your comment "Hi Bill, I don't drink and drive. I hardly ever drink enough to be over the legal limit anyway." if you don't drink and drive at all, then I commend you for having the social consciousness to separate the two things. But many people think it's ok to drive while under the legal limit and I post this about my dad because many people really don't know the dangers of buzzed driving. And yes, I am a teetotaler, but my issue is mixing alcohol with driving, but if you don't do those things in tandem, my hats' off to you.

On a different note: The Judith Hale art gallery was put out of business about two years ago because the landlord jacked up her rent from $5000 per month to $10,000 per month. It's reasonable to assume that the landlord banked on another wine bar business coming in and paying the five-figure monthly income. About six months after the fact, I ran into her husband Don (who I used to work with) and he told me they had lowered the rent price to $7500 and still nobody was biting. So there you are: Judith Hale driven out of business by greed, and now that the supply is exceeding the demand the businesses are starting to suffer. The New Millennium's version of the California Gold Rush is starting to wane. Time for another plan.

Wow, and I thought this article was about some more nitwits that were trying to amortize the cost of their overinflated agricultural land into every bottle of wine they sold?

A little history. After the Civil War, California went into a deep Economic Depression. In those days the wine production was mostly centered around Los Angeles. The saving grace for the Vintners, I.W. Hellman financed the cost of loading barrels of wine and shipping them around the Horn of South America to the North East on Clipper Ships. Thus the Yankees were introduced to California Wines and the day was saved by opening up a new market.

Not the first time California Wine has been in rescession.

howgreen..., have you ever read any of Kevin Starr's books on California history? Amazing detail, fascinating.

@Ken_Volok,

Yes I have. I also am lucky enough to have a complete set of Bancroft's Works : History of California from the 1880's.

I'm not familiar with Bancroft, but will keep a lookout for his/her work.

Bancroft is a very famous Calif. historian, but also badly out of date. Kevin Starr's works are really fine history, and recent, too. He is or was the State Librarian.

I found a Hubert Howe Bancroft, seems to have written about a number of states.

That's him, died 1918, really prolific, not actually a professional historian but perhaps that's a good thing. He wrote many volumes of his History of Calif., some can be read online at http://www.solanohistory.org/collecti...

I don't drink much but when I do it's Ama Rosa! Seriously though, I didn't know it's organic. I do buy pinot noir sometimes, so I'll start buying Alma Rosa. Does it come in a box?

Much thanks howgreen and DrDan :)

@DrDan,

Bancroft is not out of date for the time period he writes. Dr. Starr's work, especially debunking the myth that California was stolen from Mexico, is enlightening. The last Governor from Mexico City was given his walking papers in 1836, Self rule after that.

@Ken_Volok,

Herbert E. Bolton wrote about Anza, published in 1930, he was a Professor of American History and Director of the Bancroft Library, University of California, I have his works as well.

My Family has been in the West for over 300 years, so I find this history interesting.

Huntington Library, UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount, Online Archive of California, Google Books, Los Californianos Library.

My Grandfather was a WWI pilot, I found great info looking at Google Books, that I was able to download. They have many Historical Society Quarterlies scanned as well.

For the history buff, the Internet many places of information that you won't find on the Major Genealogy sites and it's free.