Temecula vineyard owner says he may ignore water restriction, pay fine

TEMECULA, Calif. (KABC) -- A local vineyard owner says may have to ignore Gov. Jerry Brown's mandatory water restriction order.

Mike Rennie is the owner of Leonesse Cellars and the surrounding vineyards.

He says the amount of water he uses each year is equivalent to that of about 3,300 homes. It may sound like a lot, but he says because he has close to 550 acres of vineyards, it's a reasonable amount.

"This time of year, we water probably twice a week," he said.

He says if he were to cut his watering by 25 percent, not only would the quality of the grapes suffer, but the quantity as well.

"Because there's less fruit, it's going to cause us to raise the prices of the product," Rennie said.

So as bad as it might sound, Rennie says he might have to ignore the mandated restrictions and just pay the penalty.

"You have to give the vines what they need to produce the quality," he said. "It's like if you were told to feet your baby 25 percent less baby food, well it's going to affect the health of the child."

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