Five Lake County winery licenses have dropped off the state’s active list since June, leaving 38, according to California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control records.
JLN Wine Co. in Lower Lake and Monument Mountains Vineyards in Kelseyville let their licenses go unrenewed. ABC lists both as not renewed as of July 7. Boatique Winery’s license at 8707 Red Hills Road in Kelseyville was canceled Oct. 5. The winery keeps its other license, at 8255 Red Hills Road. Both licenses held by Laujor Estate Winery on Seigler Springs Road in Kelseyville were automatically revoked Oct. 8.
Ten years ago the county had 61 active winegrower licenses, the state permit a winery needs to make and sell wine. That figure comes from ABC’s year-end license summary for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The loss since then is 23 licenses, or 38%.
Over the same decade, Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties gained licenses. ABC’s 2025-26 year-end summary shows Napa County up 27%, from 1,456 to 1,844, and Sonoma County up 13%, from 1,177 to 1,331. Mendocino County went from 150 to 154. Statewide, the count rose 17%.
Wine Country Gazette built this account from ABC’s license lists and lookup records, the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s permit lists, the California Grape Crush Report and the Lake County agricultural commissioner’s crop reports.
Grape prices fell further in Lake
Lake County winegrapes averaged $1,163.60 a ton in 2025, according to the final California Grape Crush Report, released in April. Lake is Crush District 2. Two years earlier the district average was $1,877.25, a figure the state revised in a later correction. That is a drop of 38%.
The neighboring districts fell far less over the same two years. Mendocino County’s average dropped 9%, to $1,675.66. Sonoma and Marin counties dropped 7%, to $2,762.88, and Napa County 6%, to $6,635.85. In 2023, Lake’s average was higher than Mendocino’s. In 2025 it was $512 a ton lower.
Cabernet sauvignon’s average price in the district fell from $2,321.96 a ton in 2023 to $1,171.26 in 2025, about half. Lake growers crushed more sauvignon blanc than cabernet in 2025, 21,237 tons to 15,647.
The vineyards did not shrink with the wineries. The county crop report counted 8,063 bearing acres of winegrapes in 2015 and 11,094 in 2023. It counted 10,609 in 2024, the most recent report. The 2024 crop was worth $74.8 million, down from $114.6 million in 2023.
The federal list tells a different story
The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau keeps its own list of permitted wine producers. Its file, updated Monday, shows 53 in Lake County. Archived copies of the same list show 49 in December 2015.
Twenty-two of the 53 federal permits are held under owner or winery names that do not appear on ABC’s active list. For 20 of those, ABC’s records show a state winegrower license or application that was canceled, revoked, not renewed or withdrawn. Talleyrand Winery’s state license was revoked in October 2025. Laujor Estate’s two were revoked this month. Steele Wines’ Kelseyville license was transferred to Shannon Ridge Inc. in March 2021, and the federal list still carries a permit under the Steele Wines name.
New brands, and old ones with new owners
Twelve of Lake’s 38 licenses carry an original issue date of 2020 or later. ABC’s records show that five of the 12 were transferred from earlier licenses. Those include Shannon Ridge’s license at the former Steele winery on Thomas Drive and Mount George Winery’s license in Lower Lake, which came from AGU Enterprises’ license in Lakeport in August 2025.
The other seven show no predecessor license. Four of them were issued since June 2025: Windsor Vineyards and Kate Arnold Wines, both at 4350 Thomas Drive in Kelseyville; That Ranch LLC in Lower Lake; and a second license for Moon Tears in Lower Lake. Kate Arnold’s, issued May 22, is the newest.
One application is pending. ABC lists Oasis Vineyards, at 8400 Grayce Drive in Kelseyville, as pending as of Sept. 4.
Where Lake’s wineries are
Kelseyville has 14 of the 38 licenses and Lower Lake has 10. Clearlake Oaks has six, Middletown four and Lakeport two. Nice and the city of Clearlake have one each. Shannon Ridge holds three, more than any other owner.
ABC’s address records list 174 winegrower licenses and applications at Lake County addresses over the years. Thirty-eight are active.