Winery Responds To Rumors that It's Changing Series Manager

Villa Montalvo hoping to form new contract

Promoters submit bids

By Kara Chalmers

The rumors flying about the Mountain Winery contracting with the concert promoter Bill Graham Presents for its concert series are just that--rumors, according to the Mountain Winery's president, Nancy Bussani.

In fact, Bussani said that the four owners of the winery have not even met with anyone from Bill Graham, or any other concert promoter, other than the nonprofit Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts. The center currently manages the winery's summer series.

But last November, the winery issued requests for proposals to three for-profit companies, plus Montalvo, since its contract with Montalvo lapses at the end of this year's concert season. According to Montalvo Executive Director Elisabeth Challener, the winery has until Oct. 15 to renew its current contract.

The contract that was initially signed in 1997 by the winery's prior owner is a three-year contract with an evergreen clause. That clause allows the parties to add another year at the end of each year, Challener said. The current owners inherited about a year and a half of this contract when they bought the facility in March 1999.

Bill Graham Presents, which operates Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, has recently submitted a bid, as has The House of Blues. The House of Blues, based in Los Angeles, and Clear Channel Communications, which owns Bill Graham Presents and is based in San Antonio, are the country's two largest concert promoters.

DanSun Productions, from Berkeley, has submitted a bid, as well as Montalvo.

The winery has announced it would not make any decisions about which promoter to select until after Santa Clara County approves the conditional use permit the winery is seeking to operate its facility as a concert, wedding and corporate meeting venue. It has operated this way for more than 40 years. The permit would legalize the uses but would also restrict parking, noise, the number of events and number of patrons at events.

Bussani said the partners would probably decide in September after analyzing the bids.

The permit process, which prior owners began, is still continuing. The county planning commission granted the permit in March 2000, but the city and the Saratoga Trail Enthusiasts appealed it. The appeal is scheduled to be heard by the county board of supervisors on August 15.

Bussani said she thought the permit process would have ended long ago, and did not anticipate it going on this long.

She said that going through the RFP process would help the winery officials learn about the concert business and understand how venues work with promoters.

"The primary reason we chose to do that last fall was that none of us have experience with concerts and how they work," she said.

According to Challener, Montalvo hopes to negotiate an extension or an entirely new contract with the winery.

"We felt very good about the fact that the winery was researching the music industry, because we felt that would validate the positive work we were doing at the mountain winery," she said.

Montalvo took over booking, production, marketing, sales and operations of the concert series for the winery in 1997. Today the concert series comprises an average of 50 to 60 shows per season, with 52 acts scheduled for this season. According to Challener, one of the hallmarks of Villa Montalvo's concert series is the diversity of performers, which range from country to jazz to opera to pop.

Montalvo donates the proceeds from the concert series to programs such as arts education programs in schools. According to Challener, the programs serve about 12,000 to 13,000 children a year, many of whom come from schools that have a number of children from disadvantaged families, and children who are not exposed to the arts.

Montalvo's concert proceeds also fund its artist-in-residency program and its free art gallery.

Challener said that often Montalvo performers have agreed to teach a master class or workshop at local high schools. Recently, Dave Koz, a jazz saxophonist, taught a master class at Lincoln High School in San Jose.

"That's what makes us different from a Bill Graham Presents," Challener said.

She said if the Mountain Winery terminated its agreement with Montalvo, Montalvo would see a $700,000 deficit from lost ticket and box seats sales, corporate sponsorships and individual gifts.

Challener said that Montalvo recently wrapped up three months of focus groups and telephone surveys with patrons. She said the most important items in their minds were the excellence of the performers, the intimacy of the venues, the noncommercial environment and the good feeling they got when they knew their ticket purchase would support a nonprofit organization.

Challener said many people look forward to Mountain Winery concerts as a summer rite and that patrons care about how all of Montalvo's ushers and greeters wear badges that say "volunteer." Montalvo uses more than 600 volunteers, many of whom are from Saratoga.

"If that sense of that special place changed, I think they'd feel they were missing a dear friend," she said.

According to Bussani, the winery's relationship with Montalvo has been good.

"They've done a really good job, the booking acts have been really good," Bussani said. "One thing we want to achieve is to be able to have a little more say in marketing and operations."

She said what the promoters can offer financially could make a difference, but that money would only be one of the deciding factors. Most importantly, the winery wants more control over operations, Bussani said.

Today, the winery does not have a say in which acts are chosen to perform at the winery, part of which is located in the city limits of Saratoga. According to Challener, the previous owner did not want to be involved in choosing performers. But she said Montalvo is open to discussions with the winery on this issue.

If the supervisors deny the appeal on Aug. 15, the winery will have a permit, which outlines, among other requirements, decibel levels for concerts. This means the winery would have to carry out these requirements, or they could risk losing the permit, or make its neighbors unhappy, so the winery wants to be able to say no to groups that may be too loud. No matter what, the winery wants the right to choose the artists, Bussani said.

"Whomever we go with, we would require that in an agreement," she said.

Challener said Montalvo is just as concerned about making sure the neighbors aren't adversely affected by noise.

"We would absolutely succeed at dealing with that," she said about complying with the noise requirements.

Challener said she was confused when she first heard that one of the winery's concerns was about noise. She said that according to some of the patrons she has spoken to, another concert promoter might book more rock groups than Montalvo would.

But Bussani replied that this would not happen.

"We want more involvement with vendors to ensure that things get better, not worse," she said. She said the winery is happy with the market the concerts attract and is not interested in changing that market.

The Mountain Winery is one of four of Villa Montalvo's concert venues. Concerts are also held at Villa Montalvo and in Los Gatos' Vasona Lake County Park. Beginning in February 2001, Villa Montalvo will hold concerts at Mission Santa Clara Church, as well. But Challener says the winery is a significant part of what Montalvo is.

"We feel we've had a very positive relationship with Nancy Bussani and look forward to working with her and the winery in the future," Challener said, adding that the Mountain Winery is moving forward and Montalvo hopes to remain a part of it.

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