Not everyone is smiling in Flavortown.
It seems that Flavortown’s CEO, president and emperor for life—Guy Fieri—has run into some serious local opposition to his plans to build a fancy Italian-esque winery, barrel storage facility and outdoor patio on seven acres of vineyard land he recently purchased west of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County.
Fieri, the boisterous, spiky-haired host of Food Network’s megahit “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” applied for permits to build Hunt-Ryd Winery (named for his sons, Hunter and Ryder) earlier this year but hearings on the proposal were stalled when neighbors demanded that county planning officials give more study to potential noise and traffic problems in the quiet rural residential area. Hearings slated for early December were cancelled due to the ferocious rain storm that slammed Northern California.
Current plans call for a “small, boutique” winery on the Willowside Road site, which is planted with Pinot Noir grapes that Fieri sells to Jackson Family Wines and Williams-Seylem. Reports indicate that the winery would produce approximately 10,000 cases of wine a year, host more than dozen special events, and be open by appointment on weekdays and without appointment on weekends.
More than 100 of Fieri’s potential neighbors have signed a petition opposing the project, which is said to have been repeatedly revised downward and will next be taken up by the county in January. The celebrity chef is no stranger to the area. He lives in Sonoma County and owns two restaurants in Santa Rosa, Johnny Garlic’s and Tex Wasabi’s.