(NVR) - The Napa Valley wine industry has become increasingly reliant on a direct-to-consumer sales model, which requires bringing customers into winery tasting rooms to drink the wines — and drink in the Napa Valley experience — before deciding whether to buy.

Napa County adopted a landmark regulation of the wine industry in 1990 called the Winery Definition Ordinance, but recent growth in the industry has led some members of the Napa County Planning Commission to question if the WDO can properly address the advent of direct-to-consumer sales models. The commission will be meeting with the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to discuss that topic.

Policy changes are sure to be discussed, but no action is expected from the meeting. Planning Director David Morrison said he is looking the supervisors and commissioners to say how seriously they want staff to pursue any change, which would require extensive work with the industry.

“It’s certainly not a subject I would wade into lightly,” Morrison said. “My intention is to introduce the topic and stay out. I’m much more interested in what the board and the planning commissioners have to say.”

As wineries have proliferated over the years, with about 500 in Napa County, the sales model has been transforming the local wine industry. Just being in Napa Valley may longer be the selling point it once was to consumers, and stiff competition with other wineries has put greater emphasis on having larger marketing plans, higher daily visitation, as well as more tours and tastings and special events.

But that, in turn, brings a host of related effects to county residents, ranging from being stuck in traffic on Highway 29 behind limousines and tour buses, to groundwater usage, to questions of whether the county produces enough grapes, and even how late the late-night parties at wineries should go.