New Le Colline vineyard application filed with Napa County
06.05.25
One of Napa County's more controversial new vineyard proposals of recent years – Le Colline, near Angwin in the mountains northeast of St. Helena – is returning in a slimmer form.
Dave DiCesaris has filed a revised erosion control plan application with the county to create vineyards. Once again, the project site is a portion of the 88 acres at 300 Cold Springs Road on the slopes of Howell Mountain.
The previous Le Colline application in its final form called for 21 acres of vineyards within a 28-acre total development footprint. The latest version calls for 10 acres of vineyards within a 13.4-acre footprint.
Whether the reborn Le Colline proposal proves to be a flashpoint in the Napa County debate over creating new vineyards in mountainous watershed areas remains to be seen. A ruling by the county may be some time in coming, given the application was filed only last month.
The Napa County Planning, Building and Environmental Services department issues erosion control plans for projects requiring grading on slopes steeper than 5%. Department decisions can be appealed to the Napa County Board of Supervisors.
In August 2023, the Board of Supervisors rejected the previous Le Colline erosion control plan on appeal by a 3-2 vote, agreeing to overturn a previous approval by county staff. People packed the board chambers and more than 30 spoke.
Proponents said Le Colline deserved approval because Dave and Kathleen DiCesaris had followed county rules and studies showed that potentially adverse impacts could be mitigated. The Napa County Farm Bureau said the project's rejection was precedent-setting, based on emotion instead of science, and threatened the future of agriculture in the county.
Opponents said Le Colline vineyards would be too close to the Linda Falls nature preserve. Some, including three Napa City Council members in a letter, said vineyards could hurt water quality in Conn Creek, which feeds the city's Lake Hennessey reservoir. Others objected to trees and shrubs being cleared to make way for grapevines.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed the 2023 appeal with the Board of Supervisors.
Supervisors voting against the project said the vineyards would be in a bad location and cited county conservation regulations. The minority voting for the project said it met county standards.
Now comes what Dave DiCesaris calls Le Colline II.
“I think the biggest reason we decided to give it another try is we really feel a smaller vineyard with the right amount of public benefit is the best use of that property,” he said Friday.
Public benefits would be 67 acres being placed in a conservation easement and wildfire mitigation and forest restoration being done. Vineyard revenues would pay for the restoration, DiCesaris said.
The forest restoration plan by Peter Lecourt of North Bay Forestry on file with the county covers 45.8 acres of coniferous forest, 26.24 acres of shrubland and 6.9 acres of woodlands.
The planned vineyards are farther from Conn Creek than before and much of the project would be in an old apple orchard, with 3.5 acres of previously undisturbed land being disturbed, according to DiCesaris.
Attorney Frances Tinney of the Center for Biological Diversity said late Friday that the hillside site provides wildlife connectivity, riparian habitat, and carbon storage. Developing it can have harmful consequences.
More will be known about the environmental impact of the latest Le Colline proposal when the environmental review is available, she said in an email. The center’s priority remains preserving ecosystems for species and people.
“We look forward to carefully reviewing the proposal and continuing to work with the county, the applicant, and the community to protect Napa's irreplaceable natural resources,” Tinney said.