Wine: Heat-illness rules clarified; vineyards face new setback rules; Foster’s big on solar

The state Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety & Health, or Cal/OSHA, has clarified and tightened what is required under the 2006 heat-illness prevention regulations.
The new rules say that when the weather forecast is for a high of at least 85 degrees the next day, an employer needs to have ready at the start of work shade for one-fourth of the crew within a quarter-mile or a five-minute walk and two quarts of water an hour for each worker. That means breaks should be staggered to allow sharing of shade, which would need to be dispersed throughout a large vineyard. Water can be re-supplied throughout the day, if a worker is designated to do so.
“Growers were sensitive on hot days when temperatures were over 100, they would send workers home,” said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission, which hosted a Cal/OSHA seminar on Feb. 24. “With 85 degrees, it’s a lot more days. It could be a majority of July through September with some in April through June.”
Fines for “serious and willful” violations such as failure to provide treatment can go up to $70,000 each.
More information is available at www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/heatillnessinfo.html or by calling 707-576-2388.
***
Sonoma County’s hard-fought 1999 Vineyard Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance was folded into the county’s new Grading, Drainage and Site Development for Vineyards and Orchards Ordinance late last year.
The biggest change is the requirement for setbacks from riparian areas and wetlands, according to Mr. Frey of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.
In addition to streams listed on U.S. Geological Survey maps, growers now have to include 25-foot setbacks from the smaller ephemeral waterways. Also, growers need to keep their activities 100 feet away from wetlands delineated in the county General Plan as well as 50 feet away from any that aren’t, such as a low area that holds water for an extended period, although for those a 25-foot grassy tractor-turning area can be part of the buffer.
Permitting remains a ministerial process through the county Agricultural Commissioner’s office. Environment-
protection advocates have challenged the change in court, calling for tougher environmental review of projects under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Details of the new ordinance are available at www.sonoma-county.org/agcomm/vesco.htm.
***
In addition to the Wilson family’s latest acquisition of Jepson in Ukiah and the pending outcome of ownership of Kirkland Ranch winery southeast of Napa, a few other local wine businesses have changed hands recently.
Bill Foley II has made his second wine brand acquisition in the past few months and his ninth since entering the wine business in 1996. The retired insurance company top executive worked out a deal last week to take a 70 percent stake in the Kuleto Estate winery near Rutherford, inventory for the 7,500-case-a-year brand and 22 acres of winegrapes.
Mr. Foley reportedly plans to increase production to 14,000 cases a year.
Pat Kuleto will retain 700 acres of land with 150 acres in vineyards and will continue to work with the brand he started in 1992, and winemaker Dave Lattin will continue making the wine. Mr. Kuleto has designed 190 restaurants and owns Martini House in St. Helena, Nick’s Cove & Cottages in west Marin County and several high-end San Francisco restaurants.
In December, Mr. Foley acquired Sebastiani Vineyards in Sonoma. His Sonoma-based wine group, now called Foley Family Wines, includes Lincourt Vineyards in Solvang, Firestone Vineyard, Goodnight Winery and Foley Estates Vineyard and Winery in Santa Barbara County, Napa Valley brands Merus and Altvs as well as Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla, Wash.
Meanwhile, Sonoma Wine Co., which has a 2.2 million-gallon-a-year custom winemaking operation in Graton, now has a presence in Napa Valley. The company, started by Derek Benham, acquired Greenfield Winery’s 115,000-square-foot American Canyon facility, where Greenfield produces the Cartiledge & Browne brand. A third of the 300,000 cases produced annually are for the Cartiledge & Browne brand, and the rest are for custom-crush clients.
***
Calistoga-based Missing Links Networks, www.missinglinks.net, released a new feature for its flagship eCellar wine business software suite called Compliance and Shipping Gateway. It’s a software link to direct-shipping order-status and regulatory-compliance information via ShipCompliant, produced by Six88 Solutions of Colorado, and FronTier, a new Internet-based service offered by New Vine of American Canyon.
According to Missing Links, winery clients that use ShipCompliant or FronTier as well as eCellar can see in one “dashboard” view if there are any compliance or shipping problems, with updates available every 15 minutes, and arrange for order fulfillment with one click.
The latest version of the cash register module of the eCellar suite allows for verification of addresses and shipping laws in the consumer’s home state at the point of sale and has the ability to read data from the magnetic strip on driver’s licenses.
The eCellar software, first developed in 1999, is Web-based, which means an Internet connection is needed. An encrypted connection with the eCellar server allows for use of the system on handheld computers over even public wireless networks, according to CEO Paul Thienes. Data is stored and backed up off-site.
The cost for each gateway software “plugins” is $1,995 plus $150 a month. New Vine is covering the cost of its gateway until May 1.
***
Foster’s Wine Estates now has solar power systems that can generate a staggering 3.85 million kilowatt-hours annually at its Beringer, Asti, Etude and Stag’s Leap Winery wineries in the North Coast.
Perpetual Energy Systems of New York inked a 25-year deal with Foster’s for the systems, including the 1.3 megawatt array at Beringer, a record size for a U.S. winery, using conventional financing, construction and permanent debt and equity, as well as federal tax credits.
In an increasingly used solar-power-financing arrangement, Foster’s gets to buy power at a reduced rate and didn’t have to front money for the project.
***
Santa Rosa-based American AgCredit, part of the Farm Credit cooperative in the U.S., distributed $14.7 million in cash dividends to its members, based on a portion of $60.3 million in net income for 2008. Loan volume grew 17 percent last year.
***

Wine People

Hahn Family Wines, the Napa-based sales and marketing division of Hahn Estates, appointed veteran wine-industry accountant Bradley Saunders as chief financial officer. His background includes G&J Seiberlich & Company, Brote-markle Davis & Company, Viansa Winery & Italian Marketplace, Pezzi King, Robert Mondavi, Round Pound, Winery Exchange and Folio.
Round Pond Winery in Napa Valley has extended a winemaking consulting contract to Thomas Rivers Brown, who has made wine for Schrader Cellars, Ridgetop Partners, Vieux-Os, Double Diamond, Outpost, Maybach, Nicholson Ranch and Chiarello Vineyards. Round Pond’s Brian Brown is now head winemaker.
•••
Submit items for this column to Jeff Quackenbush at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4256 or fax 707-521-5292.