PROHIBITION-ERA RESTRICTIONS MAY FINALLY BE LIFTED, ALLOWING WINERIES TO REVIVE CABERNET IN L.A.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Before Prohibition began in 1920, the Santa Monica Mountains were ripe with vineyards and wineries, giving the world its first taste of California's famous wine.

Now, Los Angeles County is poised to take back its reputation as a maker of premium wine.

For the first time since Prohibition, momentum has built to allow vineyard owners to open small, boutique wineries.

And vintners said they couldn't be happier to get rid of the 1920s-vintage law, which allows winemaking only in industrial parts of the county.

``Los Angeles used to be the wine capital of the state,'' said Don MacAdam, owner of Sweet Water Vineyards in Saugus. ``It doesn't make sense that we have the majority of the population in the state and consume the majority of the wine and are not taking advantage of growing and processing wine here.''

The county Regional Planning Commission voted unanimously recently to allow vintners to produce 5,000 gallons a year in agriculturally zoned parts of the county.

The commission will vote again in the next few weeks, clearing the way for the county Board of Supervisors to decide whether to give final approval after a public hearing.

Vineyard owners in the Santa Monica Mountains and Antelope Valley are excited about the prospect of being able to make wine on their property.

``The old ordinance is a relic of the Prohibition era when they wanted to keep people from possessing alcohol,'' said Juan Alonso, owner of the Le Chene French Cuisine restaurant and a five-acre vineyard in Saugus.

Because of the ordinance, vineyard owners ship their grapes to other counties, where the bulk of winemaking is allowed. Some small vineyard owners make wine but only for personal consumption.

Now they hope to contribute to Los Angeles County's rich history of vintners.

L.A., a history of wine

The region's early settlers, led by Spanish missionaries, planted grapes as they built missions along the California coast in the 1700s.

Mission San Gabriel, east of Los Angeles, had the largest winemaking operation. After the Spanish missionary period ended, in about 1833, winegrowing continued to be centered in the Greater Los Angeles Area and Southern California dominated California winemaking for the next 50 years.

Winemaking mostly came to a stop in Los Angeles County in 1920 with the passage of Prohibition, but it wasn't because of the law.

``A large number of acres were planted and a disease eradicated many of the grape vines,'' said Annie Lin, acting senior regional planning associate for the county Department of Regional Planning. ``Then there were development pressures and much of the land was taken out of agricultural use and developed.''

Old law, new wine

The genesis of the proposed change was when Malibu Hills Vineyard owner George Rosenthal asked Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky several years ago whether he could build a winery.

Yaroslavsky discovered the current law would not allow a winery, so he and Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich proposed the new ordinance. The board voted in July 1999 to ask the Regional Planning Commission to revise the old ordinance.

``This is a historic ordinance,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``Grapes are currently grown for wines in the Santa Monica Mountains. The (Malibu Hills and Moraga vineyards) are two well-known vineyards that have gotten the wine community's attention. These are very good wines. They sell very well. But they are limited because they are small vineyards.''

If the law is eliminated, it would clear the way for so-called boutique wineries, which run a small crushing operation, a limited bottling facility and a small tasting sales room located on the property.

Boutique wineries planned

Rosenthal, who owns a 23-acre vineyard in Newton Canyon in the Malibu Hills, said he wants to build a boutique winery that would produce about 5,000 gallons a year. He currently ships his grapes to San Luis Obispo to be made into wine.

He said the ordinance change could save his business. The state could force him to stop shipping his grapes outside the county because of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a pest threatening vineyards throughout the state.

``It has devastated some of the vineyards in Temecula,'' he said.

Gary Peterson, who owns a five-acre vineyard at his home in the Santa Monica Mountains, said he put in his vineyard as a fire break in 1989. Now he wants to expand it to 19 acres, if the ordinance passes.

``Our biggest goal is to make wine and sell it to restaurants. It is romantic to come up here to a boutique winery where people can taste wine.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Gary Peterson shows off some sirah wine grapes he grows on five acres at his home in the Santa Monica Mountains.

(2 -- color) If Los Angeles County ends its ban on winemaking, Gary Peterson plans to expand his vineyard from five to 19 acres. Peterson originally planted his vineyard in 1989 as a fire break.

(3 -- color) Plump sirah grapes, from vines originally planted as a fire barrier, could become a Los Angeles County boutique wine.

(4 -- color -- ran in Bulldog edition only) Rows of sirah grapes at Gary Peterson's vineyard in the Santa Monica Mountains ripen in the Southern California sun, which once warmed a thriving Los Angeles wine industry.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer