The St. Helena City Council endorsed new regulations late last month defining wine shops and tasting rooms in town —and requiring them to pour only Napa Valley wines.

The new zoning ordinance language, crafted by the planning commission, prohibits tasting rooms from pouring or selling wines that are not made from at least 75 percent Napa Valley grapes.

Wines poured must be labeled Napa Valley or a sub-appellation of the Napa Valley.

St. helena Planning Director Carol Poole said the planning commission put together the regulations because several recent applications made it clear that the existing zoning ordinance “doesn’t really have uses and definitions that reflect how people currently view tasting rooms and wine shops.”

Under the new rules, tasting rooms are defined as “establishments that sell wines on behalf of one or more wineries and enable consumers to taste wine (with and without charge) as a regular part of the sales process.”

The ordinance defines “wine shops” as non-winery-owned establishments “that purchase and sell wines from multiple wineries and distributors.” Incidental wine tastings are allowed.

Wine shops and winery tasting rooms will be a conditional use (requiring a use permit) in the Central Business and Service Commercial districts.

Currently, the city has approved five tasting rooms within the city limits, but they have not opened.

Clarification: The original article failed to clarify some details about proposed tasting room regulations. The ordinance pertains to tasting rooms that are owned by wineries and located in the city’s Central Business and Service Commercial districts. It does not pertain to the tasting rooms at wineries. Within St. Helena’s downtown commercial district, wineries may have off-premises tasting rooms (meaning tasting rooms that are not at the winery), but may only pour wines made from 75-percent Napa Valley grapes. Wineries (facilities where the wine is made) are allowed in the city’s agricultural districts and the definition of tasting room (as an accessory use to the winery facility) has not changed there.