Wine Country Reprisals

On Sunday, I took a very pleasant excursion out to the town of Sonoma and the Sonoma wine country with Rick, as well as Patricia and Michelle, two friends of his from the Southeast out on a visit. We had a nice day lunching, touring the Mission, soldier’s barracks and home of General Vallejo, the last of which was surprisingly interesting. After this we took a spin out to Chateau St. Jean and did a wine tasting, which led to the purchase of an expensive magnum for a future dinner. All in all, the perfect afternoon. (And since the Forty-Niners didn’t show up against the Falcons yesterday, I missed nothing by not watching the game.)

As usual, however, I got to thinking about the absurd state of our DUI laws in this country, and the blatant hypocrisy that exists in our society. There we were, in the heart of American wine country, with wineries and tasting rooms separated by miles and nestled at the end of driveways hundreds of yards long, totally inaccessible except by automobile. And there I was, tasting my sampler of delicious wines from the purveyor, surrounded by dozens of other decent, hard working, law abiding citizens doing the same. And I couldn’t help but think that each of us was sticking his or her neck out pretty far in the pursuit of a healthy, happy Sunday afternoon.

I did the calculation in my head. How much wine did I have to drink? How long were we at the winery? And I realized that, in all likelihood, I was still well below .08% blood alcohol content and could drive without excessive fear of police reprisal. (I could not, however, drive completely confident, as even being below .08% BAC does not totally shield me from the law; I could still be charged with a PC 23152(a) DUI or a PC 23103.5, better known as the "wet and reckless.") But could everyone leaving the winery drive with my relative confidence? How many .09% or .10% drivers were leaving the winery that day? And even though they were driving in a state made illegal by legislation, were they truly unsafe to drive? I think not. I believe these people were perfectly safe, and I have no substantial fear in sharing the roads with them, day or night.

So what do I think we should do? I’m certainly not advocating drunk driving, despite my many posts on this topic. I accept the proposition that truly drunk drivers should be punished according to the law if they are caught and proven guilty. However, it is extremely vexing to think that a glass or two of wine makes me an offender of the law and an enemy of the State. I think of Italian Minister of Agriculture Luca Zaia and his comments on this subject, on which I wrote in September. Ultimately, I believe this: we should roll the legal blood alcohol content back to .10%. This is the level that the law recognized for many years as acceptable, before biased, politically powerful groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving bullied legislators into submission. At least if we do this, we will provide some breathing room for responsible drivers who do not wish to become criminals.

When we returned from Kenwood to the Sonoma square we were walking around, touring the shops when we saw a woman on the sidewalk flanked by two police officers, doing the roadside two-step. Her balance was pretty good but her face was flushed and a little droopy.

“She’s done for,” I said to the group. “I don’t even know why they bother with those field sobriety tests anymore.”

We walked around the block and came back just as the cops were cuffing her and leading her to the police cruiser. And I don’t know if she deserved it or not. It’s not my place here to determine the judgment of the officers on the scene. But it was such a coincidence to see this event first hand, after having just returned from my drink and having mused on the topic only minutes earlier.