“I feel sometimes like we’re the David who’s starting to really have a go at Goliath.”

In this version, Goliath is Temecula and David is the San Diego winery scene.

That’s the take of Mike Weber, the general manager of Orfila Vineyards & Winery and president of the San Diego County Vintners Association. A few times in a recent interview, he expressed bemused frustration that San Diego’s wineries are sometimes overlooked by local wine drinkers and revelers.

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“I mean, they’re literally driving by 100 to 160 different wineries to go to Temecula,” he said.

But a report published Wednesday by San Diego’s winery trade group suggests San Diego wineries have some encouraging findings: In 2023, sales and hiring were both up year over year at San Diego County‘s 166 wineries, which are scattered throughout urban San Diego neighborhoods like Point Loma and Mira Mesa, cities including Lakeside and Escondido, as well as in the backcountry of Julian, Ramona and Santa Ysabel.

These businesses have largely bounced back from the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are expanding.

That’s a striking contrast to how the rest of the U.S. wine industry is doing. According to Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the US Wine Industry Report, “Direct-to-consumer volume and value sales were lower in 2023 and tasting room visitation dropped for the second straight year.” That report says interest in wine is dwindling as other lures — beer, canned alcoholic beverages, liquor and cannabis — beckon, especially among key younger drinkers.

California’s wine industry also is hurting. Consumption fell almost 9 percent in 2023, according to a report cited Wednesday in the San Francisco Chronicle. Trouble has been brewing for a while. “Who Will Save the US Wine Industry? Not California Boomers” reads one recent headline by Bloomberg. And Last September, Meininger’s International, a wine trade publication, wrote about California’s grape surplus amid falling demand.

San Diego’s wine industry is a drop in the bucket — producing around $55 million, compared with California’s $55 billion. But its winemakers are doing a lot right, according to the San Diego wineries report, by the San Diego County Vintners Association trade group, which examined economic data and surveyed winemakers to piece together a state of the industry.

The data tells a story of resilience and resourcefulness, said Vince Vasquez, the report’s author.

“That is, I think, something that is a clear indication that wineries, at least in San Diego County, have found the solutions they need to be successful for serving existing and new customers,” he said.

Some of the report’s findings:

Vasquez, the policy and data analyst hired to conduct the research and author the report, said San Diego’s wineries have mostly rebounded from pandemic era disruptions and are finding ways to draw in more customers.

While consumption fell 2 to 4 percent in the U.S. and more sharply in California, here it grew 11 percent. (The increase was due to more wine sold and less to higher prices, he noted.)

Last year, San Diego experienced a surge in tourism, which had a positive effect on all the wineries in the area, according to Vasquez. In addition to this, the wineries are putting efforts into organizing events, enhancing their marketing strategies and investing in customer service. This comes at a time when QR codes and applications have made the process of ordering without personal contact possible. However, the trend in wineries is storytelling. Customers enjoy conversing with staff members, getting to know the owners, and learning about the winery’s history. Vasquez emphasized that the involvement from staff members plays a crucial role in the winery experience.

In the face of the pandemic, having outdoor spaces proved to be crucial. These spaces are now being repurposed for hosting events and even weddings.

For example, Orfila, a large winery located in the San Pasqual Valley, brought onboard a dedicated events manager last summer.

“With over 70 acres of sprawling vines and mountain views, there is no shortage of breathtaking scenery,” says Orfila’s website under the photo of the rolling vineyards bathed in a dusky glow.

The goal isn’t primarily weekend weddings but rather corporate events that can be scheduled from Monday to Friday. Employing an events specialist was a logical consequent step for the 30-year-old winery, considering the surge in events demand as the COVID-19 pandemic subdued, Weber mentioned.

“We had been receiving considerable interest through telephone calls and emails, but we were not really prepared to manage it,” Weber stated. These days, he added, “we are observing an ever-increasing number of reservations.”

The report highlighted one macroeconomic condition that contributed to the successful year: Businesses can acquire what they require to produce and sell wine.

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Despite the positive connections and client base being established by wineries, the survey also highlighted a few problem areas.

The circumstances are becoming increasingly difficult for smaller wineries.

“Large and rapidly growing wineries in the area drove the bulk of revenue growth in 2023, adding crucial jobs and stimulating sales. The majority of the smaller wineries, on the other hand, are either seeing another year of stagnant or decreasing sales or only modestly increasing,” the survey reports.

Reduced access to cheap insurance is yet another issue. In 2023, the majority of the examined wineries lessened brush and cultivated defensible areas, and some even invested in firefighting equipment at their sites. However, nearly a quarter of those examined were denied coverage, and premiums increased for 60 percent.

Rejections of coverage and increased costs due to the risk of wildfires have led to a higher percentage of surveyed wineries resorting to Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plans. These plans are expensive and often viewed as a last-minute option for insurance coverage.

Another hurdle is the lower wages earned by the San Diego wineries in comparison with other wine-producing regions in the state.

This discrepancy is connected to difficulties in the recruitment and retention of skillful workers, the expanded hiring of lower wage entry-level workers, part-time employees supplanting full-time workers, greater number of boutique winery owners shoulder multiple roles, and workforce reductions. The report also mentions the influence of California’s housing affordability crisis, which is more serious in San Diego County.

Despite these issues, Weber of Orfila asserts that San Diego is not experiencing an exodus of winery workers to Northern California, where the industry wages are higher. He claims that, if anything, workers are migrating to San Diego from other areas.

“From what I’ve seen and heard, it seems more like it’s the opposite. People come to San Diego from other places,” he stated.

Let’s revisit the tale of David and Goliath.

“We often hear people at different events who are tasting our wine say, ‘I had no idea they made wine in San Diego.’ Needless to say, we’re not fond of hearing that. It paints a pretty accurate picture of what we’re up against,” Weber expressed.

The vineyards of San Diego not only exist in Temecula’s overshadow but also in the shadow of craft beers. Who in San Diego, or even in Arizona and Chicago, hasn’t heard of Stone Brewing?

Local wineries must put themselves in the spotlight to compete effectively, as pointed out by both Weber and Vasquez. This could be accomplished through increased wine events, collaboration, and marketing.

Vasquez highlighted an interesting fact: wineries are scattered everywhere, from the coast of San Diego to the desert and the border. In places like Napa and Temecula, wineries are clustered together. In San Diego, however, one can sample a local wine without having to travel great distances.

Local wines continue to garner praise. In the 2023 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition — a platform that judges thousands of North American wines — and the Toast of the Coast International Wine Competition, San Pasqual Winery received numerous awards.

Producing award-winning wines with grapes sourced from across California, Carruth Cellars operates as an urban winery and tasting room. Its 2019 Kelly Napa Cabernet Sauvignon was a gold winner at the 2023 Toast of the Coast competition.

“We’re making some inroads,” Weber said. “It always starts with the wine quality. Several locals who’ve been in the business for a very long time have made rather strong comments saying just what a wonderful incline, increase, in the quality of wine that’s happened in the county in the last 10 to 15 years. It’s remarkable.

“I think if you lead with good wine, all the rest comes together,” he said.