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Legendary California winemaker files lawsuit against Napa County

08 September 2023 By James Evison

Hundred Acre Wine Group founder Jayson Woodbridge is suing Napa County after the authority denied water well permits at four of his vineyards.

The move sees Woodbridge taking action because he alleges the county overstepped its authority in refusing the permits on land owned by the group at three St. Helena vineyards and one in Calistoga.

According to the lawsuit, it seeks a deceleration the the county’s actions are in violation of state law on water rights and also the 5th and 14th amendments of the US Constitution.

Woodbridge, a former investment banker who has been described as a ‘visionary’, has waiting lists up to five years long for some of his cult wines from Hundred Acres, which include the Napa staple Cabernet Sauvignon, such as its Few & Far Between, Kayli Morgan and Ark bottles. He is renowned for attention to detail, such as ensuring bottles have a 24-carat gold band fired into the glass of the neck.

He said new permit applicants for wells were subject to the county’s new policies – but existing permit holders are not subject to such restrictions. Therefore there was “no rational basis for imposing disparate impacts on dormant overlying groundwater rights holders as a subclass of overlying groundwater rights holders within Napa County”, he alleged.

Additionally in the complaint he said there was “no scientific or rational justification” for applying a 0.3 acre-foot limitation to new well permit applicants.

A statement from Jonathan Bass of Woodbridge’s lawyers, Coblentz Patch Duffy and Bass, said “Access to water in Napa is obviously critical to the wine industry. There’s a place for sensible and equitable regulation, but any regulation must be consistent with the landowners’ fundamental water rights. Vineyard owners like my clients are excellent stewards of the land, and of the water that underlies their properties. They have no interest in fighting with the county, but if the county is unwilling to follow the law, then we have no choice but to ask the courts to step in,” said attorney Bass.

“This lawsuit is being filed with respect to vineyard properties owned by Mr. Woodbridge, but the county’s actions affect many agricultural properties. Any owner seeking a new well permit is being subjected to a 70% reduction in allowable water use, as compared with existing wells.

“That is not a legitimate use of the county’s regulatory authority. The county’s infringement of water rights is a threat to every vineyard and farm that depends on groundwater for irrigation.”

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