Breathalyzers will make appearance at winery event

<p>As usual, the annual Kendall-Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival next month will boast more than 100 varieties of tomatoes, a wide selection of wine, and a bevy of nationally known chefs competing “smack-down” style for top honors.</p><p>But perhaps the most notable attraction will be a tent featuring gadgets more typically associated with a good time gone bad than one still in full swing — Breathalyzers.</p><p>In what appears to be a first for a Sonoma County winery, the 14th edition of the festival will offer voluntary blood-alcohol tests for visitors' education and safety.</p><p>“If they discover they're over the line, it's very easy for them to sit back, have some water and food, and wait and take the test again later,” said Mark Osmun, public relations director for Jackson Family Wines, owners of the Kendall-Jackson label. </p><p>Osmun said the winery has been vigilant against people drinking too much as have the county's 130 other tasting rooms — comments bolstered by statistics.</p><p>Sonoma County had a lower percentage of alcohol-related accidents and deaths between 2004 and 2008 than the median average of California's counties after taking into account population, according to the California Highway Patrol.</p><p>And the last quarterly review of the county's DUI arrests and crashes from April to June showed none involving wine tasters, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.</p><p>But the good report ended with deadly consequences on July 18 when a suspected drunken driver, who had reportedly been wine tasting, broadsided a car in Geyserville, killing two Cloverdale women.</p><p>San Francisco resident Lyndsay Murray-Mazany, 27, was in court briefly Thursday morning as a judge set a Sept. 14 court date for possible a settlement conference. She is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of drunken driving, facing a maximum of 20 years in prison.</p><p>Around the same time as the collision, Osmun said the winery read about the Finger Lakes Wine Festival in New York, which has long provided a Breathalyzer tent.</p><p>The two occurrences inspired Jackson Family Wines to contact KHN Solutions in San Francisco. The makers of retail Breathalyzers will provide voluntary tests at the festival along with information on responsible drinking.</p><p>“We try to be a leader as much as possible,” Osmun said.</p><p>The move has earned a mix of praise and caution. Patrick Emery, a local attorney who has sued bar owners, wineries and stores for serving people who drove drunk and killed or injured people, sees only good resulting from it.</p><p>“People who know what their blood-alcohol content is can then act appropriately,” he said. “I don't see any downside to giving people an opportunity to know what the effect of their drinking has been.”</p><p>Petaluma Police Sgt. Ken Savano, who coordinates the regional effort against drunken driving, supports informing people of their blood-alcohol level. Most people have no idea what the legal limit feels like, he said.</p><p>But Savano said the results need to come with warnings that just because you're below the .08 percent limit, doesn't mean you're not intoxicated.</p><p>“If a person blows on it and they are .06, there needs to be an admonition that even at .06, you could be impaired to drive,” Savano said. </p><p>Likewise, Michele Simon, research and policy director with the San Rafael-based Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog, said it was a good first step. But she said she has concerns.</p><p>“Testing is not a panacea,” she said. Better to stop intoxication before it happens by limiting the number of drinks or increasing pricing to discourage multiple purchases.</p><p>The Kendall-Jackson festival is not going as far as the much bigger Finger Lakes festival that inspired the experiment. There, deputies staff a voluntary tent inside the festival, but they also engage all vehicles leaving the event.</p><p>Drivers showing impairment are given Breathalyzers. If they fail, they are diverted to a waiting area to sober up, switch drivers or call for a ride. They are not arrested. </p><p>“It just seems like that is beyond our scope,” Osmun said. “We are not going to be Big Brother here.”</p><p>Whether or not the idea takes root in Wine Country remains to be seen. Jackson Family Wines does not have plans to provide Breathalyzers at its tasting rooms, Osmun said.</p><p>Kathleen Inman, owner of Inman Family Wines, a small Santa Rosa organic winery, said she prefers to be vigilant against serving people who drink too much.</p><p>She said she recently declined to serve two women who'd obviously had too much to drink, even though they had a paid driver chauffeuring them, she said. </p><p>“I think the responsible thing is to not serve them enough to make them inebriated in the first place,” she said.</p><p>Christopher Silva, president and CEO of St. Francis Winery, said that like most in the business he takes pride in training staff to guard against problems.</p><p>St. Francis pourers are trained to check identification for everyone who appears to be under age 30, refuse service to guests who appear intoxicated, and provide designated drivers with free non-alcoholic beverages, he said.</p><p>Still Silva said he was interested in Jackson's use of Breathalyzers.</p><p>“We have a safety record we are very proud of,” he said. “Having said that, we have to keep an open mind.”</p>