Three family-run Napa County wineries are asking state and federal prosecutors to investigate the county for alleged civil rights violations regarding its permitting and code enforcement practices.

In a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Ismail Ramsey, the wineries — Hoopes Vineyard, Summit Lake Vineyards and Smith-Madrone Vineyards — accuse Napa County officials of engaging in unconstitutional regulatory practices, enforcing codes without probable cause or evidence and abuse of power.

“As a former prosecutor, I know that an investigation into the actions taken by Napa County will demonstrate a pattern and practice of discriminating against specific classes of landowners and small business owners,” said Lindsay Hoopes of Hoopes Vineyard, a University of California law professor who spent about a decade with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Suits and countersuits

The seeds of the legal dispute were planted in 2020, when the county said wine tasting and tours weren’t allowed at Hoopes Vineyard and started issuing notices of code violations for various things, including a string of lights and a chicken coop.

In a lawsuit against Hoopes, the county alleges that the winery is a public nuisance that engages in illegal business practices.

String lights add to the ambience of an outdoor patio at Hoopes Vineyard in an undated image from November 2019. Napa County code enforcement regulators have called the winery a public nuisance, a charge the owners dispute. (Colleen Harmon/Google)

Hoopes has countersued the county, claiming the winery doesn’t need a permit to have tastings on the property because it’s been in operation since before 1990, when the county started requiring new wineries to obtain conditional use permits for such activities.

The countersuit alleges due process, equal protection and First Amendment violations.

The other two wineries, Summit Lake and Smith-Madrone, are also attempting to join the countersuit because of similar allegations against the county.

“We lose more and more family wineries and small businesses each year due to the difficult and hostile environment Napa County has created,” said Heather Griffin of Summit Lake Vineyards. “The maze of codes and compliance regulations are used and added to at the whim of Napa County.”

“We lose more and more family wineries and small businesses each year due to the difficult and hostile environment Napa County has created.” Heather Griffin, Summit Lake Vineyards

Summit Lake says that it, too, should be allowed to continue offering tastings under the “small winery exemption,” which applies to wineries operating before 1990 that produce less than 20,000 gallons of wine annually.

A spokesperson for Napa County said the county doesn’t comment on active or potential lawsuits and spokespeople for Bonta and Ramsey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.