How California can ensure wine labeled ‘American’ uses exclusively American grapes

The California Legislature will soon have to choose between siding with global beverage companies that view iconic California wineries and growers as disposable, or siding with a California industry being squeezed from all sides.

The legislation currently under consideration in the state Senate, Assembly Bill 1585, is personal since my family’s 51-year-old wine grape business will close its doors this year.

For three generations, we have grown wine grapes on California’s Central Coast. We survived recessions, droughts, changing consumer tastes, labor shortages and rising costs. We worked through good years and bad years believing that if we grew a quality product and worked hard, there would always be a place for California-grown grapes in California wine.

My father built this business believing that California wine was one of the great agricultural success stories in America. For decades, growers, wineries, farm workers and rural communities grew together. We invested millions of dollars in vineyards, equipment, employees and the future of California agriculture. 

We never imagined that one of the greatest threats to our survival would come from imported wine being blended into products labeled as “American,” while California grapes were left rotting on the vine.

Today, that belief is becoming harder to hold.

As our family business comes to an end, one fact is particularly difficult to accept: While California growers left an estimated 400,000 tons of wine grapes unpicked last year, some of the largest wine companies in the country imported nearly the same amount of bulk wine, and continued selling their products under the “American” appellation label. 

That is why AB 1585 matters.

The bill by Assemblyman Damon Connolly, a San Rafael Democrat, closes a loophole that allows a wine labeled “American” to contain up to 25% imported wine and still be marketed as an American product. Most consumers have no idea this is happening. If a bottle says “American,” they naturally assume the wine came from American vineyards.

In virtually every other major wine-producing nation, that 100% assumption would be 100% correct. For example, a French wine comes 100% from France. Yet in the United States, imported wine can make up one-quarter of the bottle and still be labeled “American.”

The largest wineries, typically multinational beverage companies, claim they need this flexibility because they cannot source enough wine domestically. That argument falls apart when hundreds of thousands of tons of California grapes are left unharvested.

The reality is simpler: Imported bulk wine is often cheaper than California-grown fruit. For large companies, it is a way to protect margins. For family growers, it is a path to extinction.

That may sound dramatic, but I am living that reality.

Our family is not alone. Across California, vineyards are being removed, growers are walking away from land that has been farmed for generations, and rural communities are losing jobs that have supported local economies for decades.

When a vineyard disappears, the loss extends far beyond the farm gate. Farm workers lose jobs. Trucking companies lose business. Equipment dealers lose customers. Rural communities lose economic activity and tax revenue. California loses agricultural production that may never return.

To be clear, AB 1585 does not ban imports, and it does not prevent wineries from sourcing wine from other countries. It simply says that if a wine is marketed as American, consumers deserve transparency about what they are buying, and American growers deserve a fair opportunity to compete.

The California Assembly understood that principle when lawmakers from both parties voted unanimously to support the bill. Now the Senate must decide whether it will stand with California farmers, farm workers, our communities and our iconic California wine industry — or instead do the bidding of a handful of multinational beverage conglomerates seeking to preserve a misleading label that benefits their bottom line.

My family’s business will not survive this downturn. After 51 years, that chapter is coming to an end.

Thousands of other growers are still fighting for their future.