New signs will help visitors sip their way through wineries

YAKIMA, Wash. —  Like many winery owners, Paul Vandenberg has put up his own signs to guide visitors to his winery northeast of Zillah.

His signs to the Paradisos del Sol Winery, along with those erected by other wineries, vary in style and placement.

In some cases, the signs have run afoul of county code and state standards.

And despite all the efforts, visitors -- many from the Puget Sound region -- commonly say they have difficulty finding a winery or navigating back to a major highway.

All that's going to change. Yakima County, with assistance from the Yakima County Development Association and a winery committee, is embarking on a plan to create standardized signs at 31 key intersections and in front of the growing number of wineries that dot the Yakima Valley.

Valley growers produce nearly half of the state's wine grapes.

The new, high-profile signs will feature black lettering on a white background and some, depending on the distance, will list the mileage to wineries. The signs, which are a variation of those used in Sonoma County, Calif., also will carry at the top of the pole the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau logo.

"I think most of the wineries are happy we will finally have something that is a logical array of signage for our customers," Vandenberg said. "We have been relying on a system put in back in the 1980s when no one had the expectation there would be as many wineries as there are."

County officials expect the new signs could be up as early as Thanksgiving. The project is funded by a program that returns a share of the state sales tax to the county to bolster economic development.

A committee that administers the sales tax program, Supporting Investments in Economic Diversification, has set aside $50,000 to pay for the round metal poles and brackets to hold the signs, which are designed to be 5 feet long.

Another approximately $25,000 will pay for the signs themselves.

Dave McFadden, president of the development association, also known as New Vision, said the new system will solve the problem of a lack of uniformity and some signs that don't measure up to county and state standards.

"We don't have a good, comprehensive signage program for the wine industry in our Valley," he said. "We face the issues of having out-of-date signs, signs that need repairs, and wineries putting up signs that are not quite legal."

Kent McHenry, the county's transportation engineering manager, came up with the color scheme as a way to address the stricter state and federal laws that dictate hours of operation to be eligible for tourist-oriented destination signs, which are blue with white lettering.

Many wineries don't meet the hours of operation requirement.

McHenry said the county sees the signage program as a safety issue.

"We have a fair amount of tourism here, and the question is how to get people to their destination," he said. "County roads treats this as a safety issue. We want people to drive to their destination and not have to wander around."

The program has been years in the making as McHenry and McFadden looked for ways to deal with those issues and provide some uniformity. To that end, they looked at signage systems in other wine-producing areas in the United States and in Europe.

Once the signs are installed, wineries must sign agreements under which they will be responsible to maintain the signs.

Linda Lowe of Wineglass Cellars near Zillah has served on the winery committee working with the county and New Vision. She said she's pleased with the prototypes she has seen.

"We hope this will provide uniform signs for all the wineries and be at enough locations that people can find us more easily and will be more user friendly," she said.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.