City Considers Wine Tasting Businesses in San Marino

The San Marino City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to further explore the possibility of having wine tasting establishments in the city.

San Marino Senior Planner Aldo Cervantes presented the council with a proposition from 55 Degree Wine, which already operates a location in Atwater Village, Los Angeles, and is interested in opening another location in the San Marino courtyard.

“I feel good about this,” said Councilman Dennis Kneier. “Whether San Marino people are going to support that, well that’s a business decision they have to make. If it brings in some outside people that want to spend their money in San Marino, I welcome them.”

The city’s current ordinance requires alcohol sales and consumption to accompany a restaurant, according to Cervantes. San Marino restaurants can serve beer or wine and in November the San Marino City Council approved an , in order to court fine steakhouse-type restaurants to the city.

“A wine bar would not only have retail but would have wine tasting,” said Cervantes, explaining the difference between a restaurant and a wine bar. “It would serve appetizers, not full meals. A wine tasting establishment would just be wine tasting. You couldn’t go into that type of business and request a full glass of wine. You could request a flight and tastings and beyond that that’s really it.”

55 Degree Wine’s Atwater Village location serves cheese, meats, crackers and thin crust pizzas as well as wine and beer.

Councilman Kneier noted that he did not have a problem with a wine bar in San Marino serving full glasses of wine or beer with cheese and crackers. Kneier said he spoke with Fritz Sears, whose son Greg, a San Marino native, co-owns Bodega Wine Bar and Sears said the business rarely has problems. Bodega has three locations, one in Pasadena’s Paseo Colorado shopping center, and Kneier said, “It seems to me to be a very nice establishment where you can get a whole glass of wine or get a sandwich or whatever you want.”

The city of Brea looks at the floor plan of wine tasting establishments and requires that two-thirds is retail and one-third is tasting according to Cervantes, so he suggested the city can do the same.

Councilman Eugene Sun wondered if a wine tasting business would drive out of business. Wine Connections--a business adjacent to the courtyard where the proposed wine bar would be--sells bottles of wine for off-site consumption.

San Marino City Attorney Steve Dorsey said that is a possibility but Wine Connections can also apply for the right to serve appetizers and wine and he wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

“If [the city] allow[s] them to do tasting they can start from scratch much easier,” said Wine Connections owner Alan Chen. “For us right now it’s almost impossible unless we change location.”

Chen said since San Marino did not allow tasting on the premises when Wine Connections began 10 years ago, he never applied for a license. He said if he were to apply for one now, it would require him to dramatically alter the business to suit health department requirements such as his and hers restrooms.

“It’s San Marino so they don’t want any trouble,” said Chen. “They don’t want any drinking on the premises.”

If a wine tasting and retail business opens in the vacant space near Wine Connections, Chen said he doesn’t currently think he will do anything differently to compete.

“We are running a little bit different type of retail because we’re selling to the connoisseur, the collector,” said Chen, who said his shop specializes in French and domestic wines. “I don’t think that there’s anyone who has a business like ours with our kind of inventory within 20 or 30 miles.”

55 Degree Wine's Web site said they carry a large selection of "unique and high value wines" and 90 percent come from Italy.

Another concern Kneier raised was the parking required for a wine bar or tasting establishment.

Cervantes noted that the recently but the retail businesses in the building still must have one parking space for every 350 square feet of business space, which would affect a wine bar or tasting establishment if it is two-thirds retail. The buildings that house San Marino Courtyard businesses currently have 36 parking spaces but should a wine bar move in, current code would require 82 spaces altogether.

“I’m not one of those that believes we have a God-given right in San Marino that if you’re not within three parking spaces of the front door you are inconvenienced,” said Kneier. “As long as you can get within a reasonable distance that is what I think we should strive for.”

Surveys show the west parking lot often empty and street parking available in front, said Cervantes, who added that the bank nearby closes at 5 p.m. so an agreement to lease some of the bank’s spaces after 5 p.m. is also an option.

“You can solve the parking problem legally,” said Dorsey, noting the city can choose to amend the current ordinance or write a new code. “Whether you can solve it practically, you have to sit down and do a study to decide.”

The city will look more into requirements for a wine tasting establishment in the city, such as what will be served, how the space will be divided, what current codes may need to be amended, and what parking requirements, if any, will be in place.

San Marino City Manager Matt Ballantyne said if everything goes smoothly, the process could take about four months.