Santa Barbara Wine Country Leader Leaving for Oregon

Four years ago, when Morgen McLaughlin left her role as head of the Finger Lakes vintners group in New York to become executive director of the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association, she found an organization in need of fresh-thinking and modernization. So she expanded outreach both regionally and internationally, spruced up the two annual festivals, grew the operating budget by about 20 percent, and commissioned an economic impact study to show that the wine industry contributes $1.7 billion to the county economy, employing 5,700 people directly and attracting nearly 900,000 annual tourists.  

But McLaughlin, who also became a planning commissioner in the City of Buellton, quickly found herself playing more defense than offense, fighting against county planners and some in the community who wanted to increase regulations on the industry through an updated winery ordinance. McLaughlin spearheaded an impressive grassroots campaign against the ordinance, which, despite being in the works for five years, was shot down by the Board of Supervisors due largely to well organized wine country opposition.

Everyone was stunned by that victory, and many were also stunned last week when McLaughlin announced she was leaving her post on July 21 for a similar role in charge of Oregon’s Willamette Valley vintners association, which has almost twice as many members as Santa Barbara’s, a much bigger budget, and a full staff.