A new report alleges that the vineyard management company contracted by PlumpJack, the wine business founded by California Governor Gavin Newsom in which he still holds a financial stake, has a long history of employing illegal alien labor.

Reporters spent weeks in Napa examining operations at Oso Vineyard, a 129-acre property PlumpJack purchased in 2022 for $14.5 million, where Renteria Vineyard Management handles field work, for a new City Journal investigation.

PlumpJack's own materials identify Oscar Renteria as Oso's long-time vineyard manager, and neither PlumpJack nor Renteria Vineyard Management disputed the arrangement when contacted.

RVM was founded in 1987 by Salvador Renteria, an illegal alien from Mexico who arrived in Napa in the 1960s and began working in vineyards in 1964. His son Oscar later took over the company, which manages more than 2,200 acres.

Newsom did not divest his PlumpJack stake when he became governor.

Tax returns show he and his wife earned at least $11 million between 2019 and 2024, largely from wineries, restaurants, and investments.

The report found no H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa filings for RVM or PlumpJack's estates after 2023, after earlier limited filings by a subcontractor.

Sources in the industry told the reporters that they believe roughly 80 percent of Napa vineyard field workers are illegal aliens, far above official estimates.

"I think it's 80 percent," the owner of a vineyard management company told City Journal on condition of anonymity. "If you're legal, you have your Green Card, you have your driver's license and all these things, you don't want to be working in the vineyards."

A former RVM employee who worked there illegally for more than a decade also said about 80 percent of the workforce lacked legal status and that management knew it, with a foreman sourcing workers from near the border.