This California Winemaker Says Forced Membership Fees Could Reach Any Industry | Kate Griffith

California’s wine industry is already under pressure, and in Santa Barbara County, wineries now face another cost. Since April 2025, businesses that sell wine directly to customers have been required to pay a 1 percent fee on those sales.

The fee funds a private trade association that wineries are also required to join, with no option under the current county rule to opt out of either the payment or the membership. Similar requirements have already taken hold in other California wine regions, and for some businesses, that has raised a bigger question about how far this kind of arrangement could reach.

Flying Goat Cellars owners Kate Griffith and Norman Yost, along with Goldwater Institute attorney Adam Shelton, explain why their small Lompoc winery is now the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against Santa Barbara County. Griffith says the outcome could matter well beyond wine, and Shelton lays out the legal argument behind the case.

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