Winery, neighbors make peace
Happy Canyon became even happier this week, with a County
ruling that there will be no public wine tasting at the Barrack family’s local
winery.
Doug Anthony, County Zoning Administrator, announced his
decision on Monday. Members of the Barrack family and representatives from the
Happy Canyon neighborhood agreed that eliminating public wine tastings is in
the interest both of the community and the public.
Bob Field, one of the neighbors who had expressed concern
about possible wine tastings at the Barrack winery, said:
“The Barracks have removed all events for the public.
They started with eight planned, then went to four, and now they’re down to
zero. They removed all special events and agreed to no wine tastings by members
of the public at that winery.”
T.J. Barrack, one of the owners of the winery, said, “We
were very happy with the zoning administrator’s judgment. It means we can move
forward with a private winery.”
Field said that he and another interested neighbor, Frank
Blundo, met with T.J. Barrack and other
representatives of the winery, and mutually agreed to “an outcome.”
“Our concern was not about the winery,” Field continued,
“but that people not familiar with the roads would be driving after drinking
alcohol. The CHP has a $650,000 grant to fund a solution to drinking and
driving, and ABC just staged a sting operation and caught locals selling
alcohol to minors.”
Barrack confirmed that public wine
tastings will not be conducted, and added, “In the everyday business of a
winery, people will be tasting, members of the media, wine professionals, people in the business.”