Highway 29 travels through Yountville and St. Helena, away to Calistoga, passing by vines that make some of the most renowned and cheap wines in the world. It follows the Napa Valley’s floor.
The road, which is lined with rows of grapevines along sun-dappled hills, is renowned for its stunning beauty and the incredible amount of Michelin-starred restaurants, spas, and store inns that have sprung up among the vineyards.
And since, for visitors at least, it has become the subject of a pressing secret: Why have so many of the expensive wines along this highway and their wealthy and powerful owners been given names in national subpoenas that were served on Napa County late next year?
” Please provide any and all records relating to the following persons, companies, and/or projects”, one lawsuit says, before unspooling a squad that reads more like a high- close holiday flyer than what is normally found in a court case.
Among the glittering brands whose province data are being sought are Hall Wines, which is renowned for its strong cabernets and luxurious St. Helena vineyards with a towering statue of a metal hare.  , Kathryn Hall, a past U. S. adviser to Austria, is likewise named, as is her father,  , Craig Hall, a former component- owner of the Dallas Cowboys whose art collection is so revered that portions went on loan to the Jeu de Paume arts center in Paris.
Caymus Vineyards, whose cabernet is a frequent favorite of , Wine Spectator, and owner Charles J. ” Chuck” Wagner are listed in the records request, as are Wagner’s son, Charlie Wagner, and his vineyard,  , Mer Soleil.
The inventory of luminaries rolls on: Robin Baggett, a former general counsel for the Golden State Warriors, and his , Alpha Omega Winery.  , Dave Phinney,  , whose” Prisoner” label changed the industry. Aonair and Reverie II, Grant Long Jr. and his wineries Hundred Acre and Jay Woodbridge. The winery of Darioush Khaledi’s birthplace. And on it goes — 40 people and businesses in total, including Napa’s exclusive Meritage Resort and Spa.
The subpoena seeking records on the wineries and their owners, dated Dec. 14, 2023, is filed under the name of Patrick Robbins, first assistant U. S. attorney for the Northern District of California. It also references an FBI agent, Katherine Ferrato, who has experience working on complex financial crimes.
Separately, a trial attorney working in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division filed a subpoena, dated Dec. 7, requesting records pertaining to the Upper Valley Waste Management Agency, a joint powers authority that manages trash and recycling services for Calistoga, St. Helena and Yountville. Local authorities are requesting the Napa County Airport’s records in order to be updated under a third subpoena. The county’s farm bureau, which has recently become a powerful political voice for wineries, had a fourth position.
If Napa County officials have any idea what’s going on, they are n’t saying. ” Napa County is not being investigated”, county spokesperson Holly Dawson said. ” We were issued a subpoena for records. We know nothing more”.
The U. S. attorney’s office in San Francisco declined to comment, as did the FBI’s San Francisco office.
Some of the people named in the investigation did not respond to requests for interviews. Some who did respond said they are baffled.
Through their director of public relations, Craig and Kathryn Hall said in a statement that” we are aware that there is an ongoing investigation.” However, we do not know the scope or the details and it would be inappropriate for us to speculate”, the couple said.
Baggett, of Alpha Omega, said his operations had “nothing pending” before the county and therefore “zero” documents that would have been turned over. He claimed that explaining that we did nothing wrong every day has been a “disappointment.”
Baggett dismissed the probe as a “fishing expedition” or worse, adding:” I hope it’s not a political witch hunt”.
According to Baggett, one person of interest might be Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza, who has sparked controversy among neighborhood environmental activists because he is perceived as pro-agriculture, which in Napa Valley almost always means pro-wine.
Some of the organizations that received subpoenaed records have made donations to Pedroza’s political campaigns. A small number of people were involved in a contentious land deal that Pedroza’s family and neighbors ‘ properties in the eastern hills of Napa Valley sought to develop.
For years, Craig and Kathryn Hall had sought to construct a 208- acre vineyard on Walt Ranch, 2, 300 acres of oak woodland they owned in Napa’s Atlas Peak appellation, prized for its elevation and rich volcanic soil. The property was undeveloped when the Halls bought it in 2005, but zoned for agriculture. Environmental groups strove to silence their efforts to clear space for a vineyard, saying it would endanger oak trees and animal habitat, deplete limited water supplies, and increase fire risk.
The Board of Supervisors provisibly approved the development in late 2021 after years of wrangling between the law and regulations. Pedroza voted in favor of the project.
His vote set off a new controversy when a local activist, documentary filmmaker Beth Nelsen, discovered that Pedroza’s father- in- law had bought property adjacent to the proposed vineyard.  , The San Francisco Chronicle , followed with reports that Pedroza and his wife helped secure a loan for the purchase, using his Napa home as collateral. Criticism claimed that Pedroza should have publicly disclosed his involvement as a conflict of interest and that the Walt Ranch development would undoubtedly raise property values in the area, including the property Pedroza’s father-in-law had purchased.
Pedroza dissented from subsequent votes on Walt Ranch, saying he had no financial interest in the property.
In late 2022, the Halls gave up on the idea of developing the vineyard, and , worked out a deal , to preserve the land through the county land trust.
The FBI searched Pedroza’s home in December,  , according to the Napa Valley Register. He opted to step down from the Board of Supervisors in the coming year and will end his term.
Pedroza did not respond to emails and calls from The Times asking for comment. He wrote in an email to , the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, earlier this month, that he believed everyone should work with all branches of federal and state government. I have always encouraged Napa residents and all Napa public authorities to do so. There is no reason to do otherwise”.
Adding to the intrigue — and the grief — a key figure in Napa County, Ryan Klobas, died in an , apparent suicide in January, weeks after the Department of Justice , served a subpoena , on the Napa County Farm Bureau, which Klobas headed. Klumas became the farm bureau’s chief executive in 2018 and served as policy director there in 2017. Under his leadership, the bureau expanded its membership and established a political action committee to represent the bureau in the fight against a county initiative that would have prevented the expansion of wineries.
The bureau’s interim CEO, Tawny Tesconi, confirmed the bureau had received a subpoena but declined any additional comment.
One thing is clear as the mystery rages: The federal investigation comes amid a bitter conflict between Napa Valley’s future supporters. Should the valley keep adding vineyards? Or, no matter how beautiful the rows of grapes in the slanting afternoon light, has the proliferation of wineries, tourists, and traffic reached a tipping point that threatens to erode its natural environment and rural charm?
” Our entire economy depends on the success of our agriculture, and our wine and hospitality”, said former Yountville Mayor John Dunbar, a supporter of the wine industry. But the fight over land use has grown” toxic”, he said. People are being attacked because they support or oppose a winery permit, the statement reads.
Geoff Ellsworth, a former mayor of St. Helena, is among those who believe the forces of development pose a grave risk to the valley’s environment and invite political corruption. Additionally, he worries that the rise in hotels and tourist attractions is “hollowing out” his hometown and other valley floors.
Ellsworth, who was born in St. Helena and returned to Los Angeles after spending years there, said a turning point was when he learned of a proposal to convert St. Helena’s City Hall into a hotel and a decision that eliminated tiered water rates. ” I was like,’ Wait a second,'” he said. Soon after, he made the decision to run for city council and eventually became mayor.
The landfill in the hills above Calistoga, which accepts both waste from nearby counties and trash from many wineries, became known for its problems. ” Fires”, he said. ” Radioactive waste. I’m the mayor, and I’m like what is going on”?
Ellsworth eventually collaborated with Anne Wheaton, a different resident who was concerned about the landfill. They have spent the last few years, as a couple, working to expose what they claim is a complex web of environmental and worker safety violations that they fear could make the landfill hazardous.
Ellsworth claimed that the Department of Justice had been in contact with him in late 2020 because he was outraged enough. He and Wheaton were pleased to read the subpoena that the department sent to the county regarding dealings with the Upper Valley Waste Management Agency. It seeks information on contracting, as well as communications among agencies and elected officials.
Ellsworth claimed that he is not aware of the scope or specifics of the federal investigation or the potential role of the landfill. However, he thinks that powerful interests have a say in the outcome, so he and Wheaton have departed the area.
” The amount of money at stake here is billions of dollars”, Ellsworth said. ” We wanted to distance ourselves from the situation”.
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