Live music at wine tasting room requires entertainment license

Live acoustic music is an added amenity for patrons sipping vintages at some of Ramona’s wine tasting rooms, but to be offered on a regular basis requires a special license, say authorities.

Earlier this month Ramona Ranch Winery winemaker Micole Moore said they received a call from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department’s licensing division telling them that to offer music more than six times per year they needed an entertainment license.

Moore said he was surprised when he got the call.

“It’s just something we didn’t know about,” he said.

On Saturday afternoons, the winery has been providing live acoustic music, he said.

“We would gladly get the license,” said Moore, adding that they are now going through the process of filling out the forms.

According to the sheriff’s licensing division, it contacted Ramona Ranch after receiving information from the county’s Department of Environmental Health that the winery did not qualify for a Community Event Permit, a free permit for events put on by nonprofit organizations. Regulated by the county’s Planning and Development Services (PDS) and environmental health, community event permits are limited to six per year.

However, if allowed by PDS, establishments can apply for an annual license with the sheriff’s department to provide entertainment, said Blanca Pelowitz with the sheriff’s licensing division.

A spokesman for PDS said the department was aware that there was a complaint about a musician playing acoustic guitar at a Ramona winery on Mother’s Day.

Any background music and/or featured performer requires an entertainment permit from the sheriff, said PDS. Amplified music is not allowed, per the county’s Tiered Winery Ordinance, to prevent noise impacts to surrounding property owners.

While community event permits are free, the annual entertainment license costs $261 along with an $86 entertainment establishment manager registration fee.

Pelowitz said the sheriff’s department has also licensed Menghini Winery in Julian.

“If there are other wineries in the unincorporated area of the county who provide entertainment, they would be required to obtain an entertainment license with the sheriff unless PDS does not allow it by use or ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) had conditions which may indicate no entertainment,” said Pelowitz .

Moore, who is president of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association, said he plans to educate the group’s members about this requirement at their next meeting.