Saratoga’s House Family Vineyards will continue the scaled-back offerings they’ve had in place since 2022 while the winery’s owners continue to work on getting the appropriate permits from the city, after operating for years without them.
The city council’s decision to extend the vineyards’ temporary compliance plan came just before it was set to expire at the end of this month. The split vote on Sept. 18, with Mayor Yan Zhao and councilmember Tina Walia dissenting, extends the plan to as late as spring 2027, two years after city staff said the vineyards’ conditional use permit and design review are due.
In making the decision, the council was met with hundreds of pages of written public comment in support of the winery, despite a smaller but vocal opposition.
Staff at House Family Vineyards have been working for years to acquire the appropriate permits that would allow it to resume operations at its location in the Saratoga hillsides on 13340 Old Oak Way. The temporary compliance plan allows the winery to offer tastings during reduced hours by appointment only at Izumi Point, a Zen garden located on the property.
But Jim Cargill, the vineyards’ winemaker, said at the meeting that the winery needs more time to complete the permitting process.
“We, and this includes the city staff, need more time to finish the job,” Cargill said at the meeting. “This project is complex and requires a team of experts to compile information needed, and time is needed to do the job right.”
The vineyards received the temporary compliance plan in the fall of 2022, but a group of residents appealed the decision soon after, citing the traffic and noise that they said the winery’s presence had invited. The council ultimately voted to reject the appeal, and eventually voted again last fall to extend the temporary compliance plan.
Councilmember Kookie Fitzsimmons cited the emergency access road that the House Family Vineyards are tasked with constructing as part of the permitting process as part of her reasoning for supporting the extension, since the road could improve public safety for other hillsides residents in an area designated as a “very high fire zone.”
“On this day, I see a plan in place, a reasonable way forward and an opportunity for solution,” Fitzsimmons said at the Sept. 18 meeting.
But Walia, who voted against the extension this year and last year, said the emergency access road is something to consider only when the conditional use permit comes before the council.
“I have to look at what is in front of me today,” Walia said, referring to the temporary compliance plan.
Roughly 20 people spoke in person and remotely at the council meeting, but hundreds of people sent in comments on the matter to the city via email, most of which were in support of the extension. Many supporters of the vineyards cited the quality of its wine and the sense of community it promotes, calling it a “destination” in Saratoga that encourages people to visit other local businesses in the city.
“It’s imperative that residents of Saratoga and the city council understand the tremendous importance of having such an amazing business and successful business as House Family Vineyards in their city,” resident Mark Escobar said.
But a small yet vocal contingent of residents – who largely appeared to reside in the Saratoga hillsides close to the vineyard – argued that the business has been operating illegally and could pose a danger to neighbors, echoing some of the same concerns behind the initial appeal in 2022.
Resident Nikil Balakrishnan said at the meeting that granting repeated extensions would “weaken public trust and the authority of this council.”
“All I’ve heard so far in support is that the views are great and the wines are good,” he said. “If everyone with a nice residential property with views and a vineyard decided to go ahead and start a non-permitted wine tasting business, it would lead to the ruin of Saratoga.”
