Due to comparably low annual dues and a temperamental membership history, the Santa Barbara Vintners have long struggled to compete with other California regions in marketing the county’s wines to national and international customers. But now the organization is considering a potential silver bullet solution in the form of a BID, or business improvement district, in which a fee would be assessed on wine sales to pay for marketing campaigns and advocacy work.
It would be the first time that such a fee — which is common for hotel and retail associations — is used in the wine industry, although two entities in Sonoma County are also currently pursuing the idea. If successful, it’s likely this model would be adopted in wine regions across the country.
Details on the exact percentage assessed and which type of Santa Barbara County wine sales to target are being worked out. But early calculations predict that more than $1.5 million could be generated from a 2% fee, or 60 cents tacked onto a $30 bottle of wine. That would triple the Vintners’ current annual budget of about $500,000, and put the organization more in line with the spending power of Paso Robles and Sonoma, yet still far behind Napa’s nearly $10 million warchest.