Letter: Nice day for a winery wedding

by Julie Ann Kodmur, Napa Valley Register, July 15, 2026

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce had chosen to get married in Napa Valley instead of Madison Square Garden. Given that reports say they gave the 100 guests at their rehearsal dinner diamond Champagne flutes, it’s not exactly an unimaginable scenario.

Instead of Paul McCartney singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” maybe Neil Diamond could have serenaded guests with “Red Red Wine.”

Imagine if the millions reportedly spent on the wedding had flowed into Napa Valley’s economy instead. Instead of Cartier watches, perhaps each of the guests would have gone home with a bottle of Napa Valley wine. Instead of couture handbags and a vintage Mustang as prizes, guests might have received weekends at Napa Valley resorts, winery tastings, restaurant dinners, hot-air balloon rides, spa treatments and mud baths.

Now imagine the economic ripple effect: caterers, florists, photographers, musicians, transportation companies, chauffeurs, rental firms, hotels, restaurants, wineries, retailers, event planners and hundreds of employees — all benefiting from a single event.

Oops. That would be a nightmare in the eyes of four wine industry groups (Napa Valley Vintners, Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Farm Bureau and Winegrowers of Napa County). In April, these groups presented a joint statement to the Board of Supervisors which proposed regulatory updates except for weddings, as referenced in the Winery Definition Ordinance: “Expand permissible wine marketing activities, excluding weddings.”

Why would they do that?

Step back and look at Napa Valley today. Wineries are closing. Vineyards are being removed or left unharvested. Wine consumption is declining. If there was ever a time to encourage creativity and new sources of agricultural income, this is it.

Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made that point in 2024 when he urged agriculture to diversify by “creating new market opportunities… and thus new income opportunities for family farmers.”

I was reminded of all this after attending a lovely wedding at a Sonoma County winery recently. The event was elegant, seamlessly managed and undoubtedly generated significant revenue for local businesses. Sonoma has figured it out. So have Mendocino, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and countless other wine regions. Agriculture evolves because it has to.

Allowing a limited number of carefully-regulated winery weddings in Napa Valley won’t usher in armageddon. Napa wineries already know how to manage visitors and events responsibly. Weddings would support farming, create jobs, generate tax revenue and introduce new people to Napa Valley and its wines — many of whom would return as lifelong customers.

If Napa County is truly committed to preserving agriculture, it must allow agriculture to evolve and be competitive with our neighboring counties.

The real threat isn’t a few weddings. It’s losing the agriculture we’re trying to save. If we refuse to adapt in these tough times, we won’t have any vineyards left.

Julie Ann Kodmur

St. Helena

https://napavalleyregister.com/opinion/letters/letter-nice-day-for-a-winery-wedding/article_ec0dead9-a9d2-4613-8c2f-1d6721e69b3e.html

An interview on Carol Collison’s podcast in May 2026:

Global Wine Partners: A Short Course in Publicity with O.G. Julie Ann Kodmur

https://www.globalwinebank.com/2026/05/a-short-course-in-publicity-with-o-g-julie-ann-kodmur/

We turned over the blog to three vintners with a “Letter To The Editor” in time for April Fool’s Day.

No, This Is Not April Fool’s. It’s Napa Valley.

By any reasonable standard, this sounds made up: a small, family-owned winery facing millions of dollars in fines for pouring wine for visitors. But this isn’t satire. It’s Napa County in 2026.

Let’s start with the case of Lindsay Hoopes. Napa County sued her winery, alleging permit violations tied largely to tastings and visitor experiences. A court ultimately sided with the County, imposing punitive penalties that have ballooned into the millions—reportedly nearing $4 million, a figure that exceeds the winery’s lifetime revenue.

The County’s position is straightforward: rules are rules. It argues Hoopes conducted unpermitted tastings, events, and other activities, and that enforcement is necessary to uphold zoning laws and protect the agricultural preserve.

But step back and consider what’s actually at stake.

This is not a case about pollution, unsafe conditions, or bad actors harming the land. It is about whether a small winery can welcome guests, pour its own wine, and tell its story without facing financial ruin.

And Hoopes is not alone.

She, along with two other Napa Valley wineries—Smith-Madrone Winery and Summit Lake Vineyards—has taken Napa County to federal court, alleging something far more serious than a permitting dispute: violations of constitutional rights, including free speech.

Because that’s what a wine tasting is—a form of communication. It is a product demonstration, a conversation, a direct connection between farmer and consumer. Restricting that activity isn’t just regulating land use; it’s regulating speech.

The broader concern is inconsistency and scale. Some Napa wineries host hundreds of visitors a day. Others—often smaller, older, or family-run—are told they cannot host any. The difference is not always environmental impact, but paperwork, timing, and the ability to navigate a costly and complex permitting system that can run into the hundreds of thousands—or millions—of dollars.

That imbalance matters. Because Napa’s identity isn’t built on a handful of large, well-capitalized estates. It’s built on generations of small wineries—people who farm their land, make their wine, and rely on direct relationships with customers to survive.

When those wineries are priced out of compliance, the result isn’t preservation. It’s consolidation.

Even more troubling is the precedent. If a county can impose multi-million-dollar penalties for what many would consider routine, harmless business activity, what does that mean for other small agricultural producers? What does it mean for proportionality, fairness, and basic economic survival?

None of this is to argue that rules shouldn’t exist. Napa’s agricultural preserve is one of the great success stories in American land-use policy. But laws designed to protect agriculture shouldn’t end up strangling the very farmers they were meant to support.

That’s the question now moving through the courts.

Is Napa County preserving agriculture—or redefining it in a way that only the largest players can afford?

Because if this continues, the future of Napa Valley may still include vineyards.

But it may no longer include the families who built them, and at the time of year when we look for examples of April Fool’s-type situations, this is a big one.

Stuart Smith, Founder/Owner, Smith-Madrone Winery, St. Helena

Lindsay Hoopes, Founder/Owner, Hoopes Vineyard, Yountville

Heather Griffin, Owner, Summit Lake Vineyards, Angwin

Let’s bop around the internet to see how wineries and wine-related entities are communicating. There’s a lot of good cheer, and most importantly, clever and memorable messages happening. Wineries telling personal stories, pulling the curtain back to share behind-the-scenes moments, moments of humor and fun.

For example, did you know you could saber a Champagne bottle on the slopes? Maximilian Riedel shared how to do it.  What about helping your customers wrap a bottle?!

Want to brush up on bilateral cordons? Stu steps in. Or what about letting a winery transport you to Japan for a sushi-making lesson?

Don’t you need a Christmas sweater? Dave Phinney has one for you.

Share your creativity with a unique way to share holiday spirit.

A moment of beauty in the vineyard, a drone capturing erosion control or just sharing an iconic Italian landscape. and the footprints of a visiting bear.

Hats off to Inglenook, who welcomed the community and the St. Helena Community Band in its historic setting.

Jean-Charles really did it, in his leopard boxers, jumping in to stomp grapes.

Josh took the challenge from the cellar crew to dig out a tank.

Don’t forget the obvious: what does your tasting room look like, all decked out for the holidays?! Wintry weather scenes are always appealing too.

Photogenic young winemakers are the focus of a tongue-in-cheek series in Bordeaux.

Or sharing the winery dog’s adventures, from naughty to nice.

My advice?

“Crank up” that iPhone! Don’t worry about how polished your vignette may or may not be: if it shares a ‘real’ moment in the life of your winery, go for it, share it, give it a fun caption! You never know what kind of virality you might possibly spark!