Jasper Dickson, one of the co-owners of Angeleno Wine Company tends to his vineyard at the Alonso Family Vineyard, located in the Sierra Pelona Valley, above the Angeles National Forest, near Santa Clarita.
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Courtesy Angeleno Wine Company
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Topline:
Tariffs on European wine could be good or bad for California wine producers, depending on whom you ask. Some American winemakers, restaurateurs and others are urging President Donald Trump to exclude wine from tariffs on goods from Europe, saying European wines are important to the health of domestic wines.
Disagreement among winemakers: Not all California wine producers are on board. They argue that European winemakers are already subsidized, so American companies having to bear tariffs on just about everything else — including imported corks, barrels and other supplies — puts wine producers in high-cost California at an even bigger disadvantage.
Where do tariffs on European wine stand?: Trump recently said that he had reached a tariff agreement with the European Union, but some details have yet to be released, including possible exceptions. For now, the EU says the 15% tariffs that went into effect at the beginning of August apply to wine, though negotiations reportedly continue.
Tariffs on European wine could be good or bad for California wine producers, depending on whom you ask.
Some American winemakers, restaurateurs and others are urging President Donald Trump to exclude wine from tariffs on goods from Europe, saying European wines are important to the health of domestic wines.
But not all California wine producers are on board. They argue that European winemakers are already subsidized, so American companies having to bear tariffs on just about everything else — including imported corks, barrels and other supplies — puts wine producers in high-cost California at an even bigger disadvantage.
For some wine growers, “it’s certainly hard to hear” about other U.S. wine and hospitality industry players pushing for “zero-for-zero” tariffs on European wines, said Natalie Collins, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, which has 650 members. She said it’s tough for California winemakers to price their products to compete with those from Europe.
Trump recently said that he had reached a tariff agreement with the European Union, but some details have yet to be released, including possible exceptions. For now, the EU says the 15% tariffs that went into effect at the beginning of August apply to wine, though negotiations reportedly continue. The U.S. wine industry, which has been facing myriad challenges including new studies that say alcohol is bad for people’s health, falling demand and growing costs, is taking this opportunity to ask for help.
Jason Haas, owner of Tablas Creek Vineyard, inspects the grapes growing on vines at his vineyard in Paso Robles.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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“We've seen two years in a row of declining wine consumption in the United States for the first time in two generations,” said Jason Haas, co-owner of Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles. “It shows up in less tourism, fewer people visiting wineries, fewer people ordering over e-commerce, less sales through wholesalers, both restaurant and retail,” Haas added.
That’s the ecosystem the U.S. Wine Trade Alliance and other industry groups are saying will feel the pain if European wine prices rise because of tariffs: thousands of wine importers and distributors, tens of thousands of wine retailers and hundreds of thousands of restaurants. California, the nation’s leader in wine-related tourism and exports, could be most affected. WineAmerica, an industry group, said California’s wine industry generated about $88 billion in economic impact in 2022. The state’s wine exports in 2022 totaled $1.3 billion, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Katie Lazar co-manages the 45-year-old Cain Vineyard & Winery in St. Helena in the Napa Valley.
“We're a long-term business,” Lazar said during a recent media briefing, echoing what other winemakers said about how growing grapes and making wine takes years. “It takes (the wine industry) so long to react and be able to change that the chaos that is present now is an existential threat to the world that we live in.”
Winemakers like Lazar say the distributors they rely on to sell their wines need revenue from selling European wines as well. Their ability to distribute domestic wine is tied to how much other wine they have coming in, she said in an interview with CalMatters.
Most of the U.S. alcohol industry has a three-tier structure that dates back to the repeal of Prohibition. Winemakers and producers are the first tier, followed by distributors and retailers. All three are facing the uncertainty brought about by tariffs: Some wine imports are on hold, meaning less revenue for distributors and retailers.
An aerial view of rows of grape vines at Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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“I’ve never felt so interconnected like I feel now, even with competitors,” said Matt Licklider, proprietor of LIOCO in Healdsburg, a winemaker that sources its grapes from various small vineyards in California. He said his winery sells to 40 distributors, some of which didn’t know whether they would have revenue coming in from imports because of the unknowns around tariffs. So some of those distributors are ordering less from him. “It has put distributors in a more conservative mindset, which doesn’t benefit anyone here,” Licklider said.
For restaurants that have very thin margins, marking up certain items such as wine can help them survive. Licklider said over the years, he has seen restaurant markups go from two to three times to as high as five times a wine bottle’s price.
Paul Einbund, owner of two restaurants in the Bay Area, said “a lot of my diners just won’t drink domestic (wine).” But he does list some American wines alongside European wines at The Morris, his restaurant in San Francisco, and Sirene, his new restaurant in Oakland.
Not knowing what’s going to happen next is the worst part, Einblund said, especially for small businesses that depend on trying to buy their products at the lowest possible prices.
“People up and down the supply chain are in trouble,” he said. “We were getting emails saying pre-tariff pricing, but that’s dried up now. European producers are not selling to Americans right now. European buyers are not buying American wines right now.”
But Richard Samra, who has been growing grapes in the Sacramento Delta and Lodi for 40 years, said he is more worried about selling his grapes to domestic wineries. He said it’s “amazing” that some in the wine industry are asking for no tariffs on the competition.
He said that competition gets plenty of help. The European Commission recently approved $5.6 billion to support exports of French wines and spirits to the U.S. The European Union spends more than 1 billion euros a year to help boost European wine, and some countries have their own subsidy programs.
“U.S. wine grape growers don’t have that,” Samra said.
“We want to level the playing field. We have plenty of grapes and wine available for sale,” Samra added. He said tens of thousands of acres of vines have been pulled out in California as supply outstrips demand, and he expects that to keep growing. He said imports are a major factor: “Profit margins for people are greater when they purchase a product from outside the U.S. and sell it here."
Jason Haas, owner of Tablas Creek Vineyard, stands amongst rows of grape vines at his vineyard in Paso Robles on July 30, 2025. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local Yet, vintners like Haas, in Paso Robles, said he also worries about the relationships that he has cultivated for years and how they’re being affected by the tariffs. Tablas, his winery, has lost all business in Canada this year.
“There's certainly spillover effects in terms of other countries just being less wanting to support American products, because they feel like they're being bullied,” Haas said.
Tablas only exports about 5% of what it produces, but Haas wanted to grow that this year. “We did a lot of investment last year, and building up export markets,” he said. “And so to have it be down this year instead of up has certainly been a hit to us.”
Jordan Rynning
has been following this case for months, including interviewing the man at the center of allegations.
Published October 31, 2026 7:00 AM
Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, spoke with LAist on Sept. 16, 2026, about the federal body armor case against him being dismissed.
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Jordan Rynning
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LAist
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Topline:
The L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez earlier this week. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Most serious claims haven’t materialized: Though federal prosecutors made headlines claiming in court documents and on social media that Alvarez was “leading a violent street gang, while claiming to be a gang interventionist for the City,” they have not filed charges related to those claims.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office dropped its felony body armor charges against Michael Angel Alvarez on Wednesday. Alvarez was sentenced to time served on a lesser charge — a probation violation. He had served more than 100 days in jail earlier this year while awaiting trial.
Why Alvarez’s arrest made headlines: Alvarez was working as a city-contracted peace ambassador in MacArthur Park when he was arrested by federal agents in May. Federal and county prosecutors each brought felony charges against him, claiming he was in possession of body armor as a violent felon.
Bill Essayli, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., pointed to the case on social media to criticize city officials for allowing taxpayer money to be “shelled out to a convicted gang murderer.”
About his criminal record: Judges in federal and state court have now dismissed prosecutors’ felony charges against Alvarez, after U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang found on Sept. 9 that Alvarez did not have a violent felony conviction. Alvarez was 15 when he committed a gang-related murder. He was tried and convicted as an adult in 2002. After a change in state law increased the age at which minors could be sentenced as adults to 16, Alvarez’s case was sent back to juvenile court, and he was released in 2024. At that point, he had served more than 20 years.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday, Oct. 7 that Republican Bill Essayli is not legally serving as the top U.S. prosecutor in Los Angeles.
The ruling is the latest roadblock to the Trump administration’s effort to extend handpicked acting U.S. attorneys beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. The strategy was designed to bypass confirmation by the U.S. Senate — something that generally requires a degree of bipartisan support.
Essayli “is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,” U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote.
The order won’t take effect until the court rules on the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal. Essayli said he doesn’t agree with the court’s order. He said the president and Attorney General “have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department.”
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Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published October 31, 2026 5:00 AM
Myrna Velasco (left) performs as Dolores Huerta in “¡Sí Se Puede!” at Boyle Heights City Hall on April 2, 2026.
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Carlin Stiehl
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LAist
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Topline:
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The backstory: Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Eliana Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring. “There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” Pipes said. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
An all-ages play about the life of Dolores Huerta and other under-told stories of the farmworker labor movement is back on tour in Los Angeles.
The show's extension had been announced prior to the news that Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28., at her Bakersfield home. She was 96 years old.
“There's this perception that farm work was only done by men,” said playwright Eliana Pipes. “There were women on the fields, there were women on the picket lines, and there were women in leadership in the United Farm Workers movement.”
Center Theatre Group commissioned ¡Sí Se Puede! from Pipes in March 2025 and it debuted in L.A. this spring.
CSULA seeks memories from underground music scenes
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published October 31, 2026 5:00 AM
CSULA is seeking memorabilia from LA's underground music scenes for its research archives.
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Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles.
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Topline
There’s a whole world of underground Southern California music history that’s hidden in storage boxes — photos, fliers, cassettes and other memorabilia. Research librarians at the California State University, Los Angeles are holding a community archive event on Nov. 5 to ensure the cultural memory of L.A.’s underground music scenes are preserved for future generations.
Why it matters: The memorabilia are the physical remnants of the supportive L.A. communities built around music and enjoyment. But many of these objects languish out of sight, and run the risk of being lost, along with the memories attached to them.
Why now: For four years, archive staff have held an annual day to receive ephemera from the public. They're doing it again on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Read on… to hear how goth, rockabilly and other underground clubs in L.A. inspired the head archivist.
Right around the year 2000, there was a club night in Hollywood called Clockwork Orange. Fans of The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and other bands came for the DJ’s mix of their favorite songs but also for a vibe that welcomed people regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual and gender identity.
“I was a pretty shy person, and so that was a place where I could sort of be myself and express myself,” said Azalea Camacho, a regular there in those days.
She had just graduated from Workman High School in the City of Industry and was also clubbing at rockabilly music nights in Rosemead and goth club nights in downtown L.A.
Camacho said there was lots of memorabilia from those times, such as photos taken in and outside the clubs, ticket stubs and promotional fliers. They're the physical remnants of those supportive communities built around music and enjoyment, but many of them languish in shoeboxes and storage units, at risk of being lost — along with the memories attached to them.
Cal State LA has hosted Sounds of the Underground Archive for the last four years. It's an opportunity for people to donate their underground music scene memorabilia.
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Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State University, Los Angeles
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“I think the danger is maybe those stories are not being told, or people don't know about the story,” she said.
Keeping stories alive
More than two decades later, Camacho is now in a position to make sure those stories are kept alive. She’s head of special collections and archives at the university library at California State University, Los Angeles.
Four years ago, she and library staff created an annual day for area residents to donate or digitize memorabilia for their Sounds of the Underground Archive. This year it's on Thursday, Nov. 5. They’ll accept physical donations, but they’ll also have a scanner to digitize printed material, so people can keep items that are precious to them.
SOUNDS OF THE UNDERGROUND ARCHIVE
Date: Thursday, Nov. 5 Time: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Location: Cal State LA Library Community Room, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles
Camacho is hoping this year will bring in a bumper amount of memorabilia. It's taken time to get the word out, she said.
“From the actual community archiving day [we’ve collected] maybe 100 or less than 100 items. … It's not a lot,” she said.
She said they're on the lookout for a wide range of mementos, including:
Fliers
Handbills
Zines
Newsletters
Posters
Set lists
Photographs (prints, negatives or digital files)
Cassette tapes, CDs, or vinyl records
Ticket stubs
Wristbands
Band merchandise (stickers, buttons, patches, T-shirts)
DIY press kits or liner notes and correspondence (letters, emails, messages related to music scenes)
Venue or collective ephemera (membership cards, schedules, announcements and more)
