Ten years later, in 2018, there were 1,616 such licenses (a 190% increase). Some wineries have multiple Type 02 licenses — one for their winery and others for their stand-alone tasting room(s), of which there are now more than 50 in Napa County. And the wineries of today are nothing like those of yesteryear. Today’s wineries are composed of dedicated tasting-room staff, marketing departments, sales personnel, winemaking departments, and others. Even a small operation that makes only 2,000 cases of wine per year often has eight to 12 full-time employees.

The number of vineyard acres in the Napa Valley in 1968 was 14,000; today there are 46,000 acres, statistics show. Whereas a family often used to tend their vineyards, bringing in help for harvest, today many Napa Valley vineyards are managed by external companies. At this point, nearly all of the plantable vineyard land has been planted under the current agricultural rules, which has some in the community seeking to change the regulations to allow for expansion opportunities.

The food picture