Vintners schmooze with lawmakers at Capitol

WASHINGTON -- Good lobbying blends science and art, as California winemakers are showing this week.

Make no mistake: There's a tangible bottom line. There are tax bills to write, farm dollars to harvest, immigration reform to ponder.

But blunt talk only goes so far. Which is why, Tuesday night, some two dozen California winemakers set out to show lawmakers a really grand time.

"Two-way communication; it's important, so our representatives have a good understanding of our needs," E&J Gallo Winery co-president Jim Coleman said outside a Capitol meeting room Tuesday afternoon.

Paul Dolan, co-owner of Mendocino County's second largest winery Parducci, also made the trek. A leader in the sustainable agriculture movement, Dolan is now president of the Wine Institute, which sponsors the annual event that continues today with more Capitol Hill briefings.

Tuesday evening, Coleman and his winemaking colleagues took command of the Library of Congress for one of the year's storied lobbying receptions. Inside the historic Great Hall of the library's Thomas Jefferson Building, the winemakers would mingle with members of Congress, key staff and anyone else who could wrangle an invitation.

With its white Italian marble, stained-glass skylights and spectacular staircases, the Great Hall catches the eye, elevates the mood. It's a dear place, with total rental prices ranging from $25,000 to $42,000. For a civilized chat, it's perfect.

"That reception is one of the nicest events of the year," said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, and "it gives them a chance to talk about the issues."

Radanovich, co-chairs the Congressional Wine Caucus with Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.

Other winemakers, too, are old hands at this business. John Franzia from the Ceres-based Bronco Winery joined a number of others from the Napa and Sonoma valleys.

Many industries sponsor similar lobbying fly-ins. Few carry it off with quite the same panache.

"The wine industry has more cachet and more clout in Congress because of their product," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.

Cardoza joined a line of roughly a dozen California members of Congress who were signed up for briefings Tuesday and Wednesday. This is part of where the administrative and political science comes in.

Rather than march from one congressional office to another, the winemakers set up shop in an eye-catching, fresco-decorated committee room on the first floor of the Capitol. There, at regular intervals, lawmakers come by to say their piece.

Some topics are perennials. The winemakers, for instance, talked with Rep. Sam Farr, D-Monterey, about priorities like supporting Pierce's disease research. Farr sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which now provides millions of dollars annually to research the disease at institutions like UC Davis.

Some topics are sporadic. This year, for instance, Congress is writing a farm bill that California lawmakers hope will include hundreds of millions of dollars for specialty crops. Cardoza already has introduced legislation that would, among other provisions, boost by 75 percent a Market Access Program that in the last year provided $11 million to the Wine Institute.

"It's really important that they do this, especially this year," Cardoza said of the wine lobbyists.

Staff Writer Kevin McCallum contributed to this story.