Lodi wine industry proposes 1.5% sales assessment to fund promotion amid struggles

The California wine industry is struggling.

In a small-town community like Lodi, where wine is the main economic driver, its success is essential. To help promote local wine, Winegrape Commission Executive Director Stuart Spencer got an idea.

“I’m looking at creating the Lodi Winery Business Improvement District, which would add a 1.5% assessment on the direct sale of wine from Lodi wineries,” Spencer said. “It wouldn’t include wholesale wine sales. It would just be anything subject to California sales tax.”

Lodi wine has seen a drop in sales over the past three years. It’s also become harder to make events profitable, even with the regular funding through membership fees and event profits.

Because of this, the commission says all the money from this assessment would go right back into the winery community with support for marketing, promotion and advocacy.

“A lot of growers are struggling right now,” Spencer continued. “There’s a lot of vineyards coming out of the ground. There’s a lot of grapes still for sale and so our winery community feels it’s important to step up and take and share that promotional burden for the region.”

If approved, this assessment would generate roughly $630,000 per year.

While the Winegrape Commission has about 70% of local wineries on board, some people think the added cost will end up costing the wineries.

“I think there’s plenty of taxes, as is,” Joy Lane, born and raised in Lodi, shared. “Personally, I don’t want to say I’m against it, but I would rather the merit of the vineyard itself, maybe the good wine, maybe just good word of mouth. I would like to, you know, let the wine speak for itself and then promote the business that way.”

But Spencer says the money will boost both wineries and the community.

“When we get people to Lodi, we win,” he said. “A great deal of our sales right now are kind of regionally based and if we’re going to grow, we need to expand that customer base. So that is kind of one of the fundamental goals of it is really marketing promotion and telling the Lodi wine story.

Other regions in California have something like this in place, from Livermore to Temecula and, most recently, Santa Barbara.

Next, the commission will go in front of the Board of Supervisors in September, hold two more public hearings after that, and if all goes to plan, this assessment will be in place by January 2026.