Winery to pay fine of half-a-million
Palmaz will rip out vines, restore areas altered without permits

By BILL KISLIUK
Register Editor
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A Napa winery has agreed to pay $550,000, pull out 750 creekside vines, plant 160 trees and make other concessions to settle charges that it violated county and state land use regulations on its east Napa property.

The owners of Palmaz Vineyards agreed to the financial penalties and environmental upgrades after being sued by county officials in April. The Napa County Counsel’s Office and Napa District Attorney’s Office said, and the court found, that owners Amalia and Julio Palmaz improperly planted 750 vines too close to a stream and failed to get the proper permits before repairing or reconstructing two bridges over a stream, cutting back creekside foliage, spreading tailings from their wine cave onto open land and repairing a spring box — a water catchment device on a stream.

In the settlement approved Friday by Napa County Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni, the Palmazes agreed to pay a $375,000 civil penalty to the county for violating stream setback and other laws; $130,000 to the Napa County Fish & Wildlife Propagation Fund, $30,000 to the State Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and $15,000 to the Department of Fish and Game.

The Palmazes have hired experts and done environmental studies that, according to a press release from the county, make the winery’s overall cost to resolve the case about $1.25 million.

In a prepared statement, Napa County District Attorney Gary Lieberstein said the agreement “represents the largest monetary judgment by far, combined with equitable and restorative provisions and requirements, that we have ever seen in any case of this nature in Napa County. The county’s determination in pursuing the resolution should make it very clear that the county will not tolerate such conduct in the future.”

Napa County Counsel Robert Westmeyer, in a prepared statement, said, “This resolution is in the best interests of all concerned. The alternative would have involved years of protracted and expensive litigation, with no guarantees as to the outcome.”

Cathy Roche, an attorney at Napa’s Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty who represented the Palmaz family in the case, could not be reached Tuesday. A winery spokeswoman said Julio and Amalia Palmaz were traveling and unavailable for comment.

In addition to the financial penalties, the settlement:

• Orders the Palmazes to restore a natural spring; plant willow, bay and live oak trees along a stretch of Hagen Creek where vegetation was cut back; and remove approximately 750 vines from areas protected by stream setback regulations;

• Prohibits the Palmazes from engaging in any future activities that would violate the county’s soil erosion control, stream setback and grading ordinances;

• Prohibits the Palmazes from violating Fish and Game regulations protecting stream beds, banks and channels;

• Places a moratorium on further development on the Palmaz property until the winery conducts and complete a wetlands and watercourse assessment;

• Requires the Palmazes to contact the county if they plan to acquire and develop any other property in unincorporated Napa County.

The Palmaz property near Mount George first received notoriety several years ago when the owners built the largest wine cave in the Napa, a more than 100,000 square-foot space with several levels and room for business offices, a tasting room, storage tanks, a bottling line and water treatment facilities.

Palmaz wines sell for between $45 and $120 a bottle.

According to the winery’s Web site, the facility was first known as the Cedar Knolls winery and was operated by Henry Hagen in the 1880s. The Palmazes acquired the property in 1996.

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