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Will Wineries Be Setting Up Shop In Washoe?

Nevada has the fewest wineries of any state, with just four filling our glasses today. While advocates want to grow the industry, there’s fear that the state could become a mere “suburb” of California wine with few bottles bearing a homegrown stamp. Reno Public Radio’s Michelle Bliss reports.

There are no commercial wineries in Washoe County, but UNR Professor Grant Cramer has been making wine in Reno for a decade.

“We have an experimental vineyard in front of us," Cramer says. "There’s about a thousand vines in this vineyard and 600 vines in the other vineyard to the north there. We have twelve varieties growing in here.”
 

The experimental winery at UNR makes several types of wine using Northern Nevada grapes, including Cabernet Franc and Riesling. Because the operation is experimental, and not commercial, the university cannot actually sell this wine to raise money for its research.

Along with the vineyard, Cramer also runs an experimental winery where he can host tastings. Two recent crowd pleasers have been a Riesling and a Cabernet Franc made with his Northern Nevada grapes.

“The ideal grapes come from a Mediterranean-type environment," he explains, "with dry air and warm days and cool nights. Those are going to give you the best quality grapes. And here, being in the desert, we have very dry air and that temperature differential.”

Right now, there’s a population cap on commercial wineries in the state, so winemakers can only set up shop in Nevada’s rural counties—every county but Washoe and Clark. For Cramer, that’s a problem:

“It’s a catch-22 for us. We can’t raise money for our research program by selling wine. At the same time, we have lots of people wanting to get our wine—even the president of our university wants us to pour wine at his dinner functions—and I can’t do it.”

That’s why Cramer recently testified before the assembly committee on commerce and labor in favor of AB4. It’s sponsored by Republican Pat Hickey and would remove the population cap.

Randi Thompson also testified in favor of the measure on behalf of a group called the Nevada Wine Coalition:

“Our goal, though, really is simple," she said at the hearing. "It’s just to expand the wine industry across the state, to help diversify our economy, create jobs, and bring needed tax revenue to the state and to the counties.”

Bill Loken owns Pahrump Valley Winery which opened back in 1990. He does not support AB4 in its current form:

“We believe this goal is good, and we support these efforts, but only with some requirements that these new entities commit to the state of Nevada," he said. "Put some skin in the game here.”

Loken wants to make sure that future wineries will be on the hook for using grapes that are grown in-state and not simply serving and selling the wines of our neighbors.

“The Nevada wine industry is in such an infant stage that it needs nourishment and courage to grow rather than become a wine suburb of California," Loken testified.

Credit Pahrump Valley Winery
Gretchen and Bill Loken own Pahrump Valley Winery and testified against AB4 in its current form. They want to make sure that any new wineries opening in Nevada use a certain portion of local grapes in their products.

Loken has spent the last decade learning how to grow grapes in the desert and turn them into award-winning vintages. He says he doesn't support AB4 as written because he wants to ensure that other wineries embrace a sense of localism, not because he doesn’t want other wineries popping up.

“Generally," says Warren Hardy, also representing the opposition, "when existing businesses come forward there’s an automatic assumption that we’re trying to pull up the ladder, that we don’t want competition."

Hardy says that's not the case, but kicking open the door to this industry would be rash and, instead, it’s better to proceed slowly. But for budding wine sellers in Washoe and Clark, Randi Thompson emphasized that now’s the time.

“Napa wouldn’t be Napa if there were only two wineries," Thompson pointed out. "Vegas wouldn’t be Vegas if there was only two casinos. Critical mass is needed to make a vibrant wine industry, and we hope changing the law will help do that which, in turn, will benefit the current winemakers.”

Right now, an amendment is in the works. If lawmakers don’t approve this measure in some form, it’ll be at least two more years before wineries could emerge in Nevada’s urban corridors since the issue would have to wait until the next legislative session in 2017.

Michelle Billman is a former news director at KUNR Public Radio.
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