Wine Enthusiasts Nomination of Joe Wagner

[Helen Shane]

Wine Enthusiasts Magazine, an organization devoted to the Wine Industry,(wineenthusiasts.com) nominated five individuals as Person of the Year, among them, Joe Wagner. The awards will be made in January, 2016.

Today I sent the following email to the magazine. I urge more of you to write them regarding Wagner's nomination:

To: [email protected]

Dear Wine Enthusiasts:

I don't know what your criteria is for nominating and selecting candidates as your Wine Stars.

Your nomination of Joe Wagner, however, indicates that self aggrandizement may be one of the main requirements for your award. Another may be lack of understanding by the nominee that wine is not the most important product of a region, and as such must not be allowed to drain more natural resources and occupation of place than any other community asset.

Joe Wagner's buy up of 68 acres of what he calls the Dairymans, in the green belt community separator between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, on Hiway 12, for the production of 500,000 cases of wine and 250,000 gallons of spirits, the raw material for which almost all must be trucked in (and eventually out) across the historic Joe Rodota hiking, biking recreational trail definitely announces Wagner's apparently self anointed title of king of all he can grab. The water used for his projected project would be way beyond what the region can provide for all its needs. The event center, where he proposes 62 events annually, some running until 10 p.m., would pour light and noise onto the adjoining Laguna de Santa Rosa, the 2nd largest freshwater wildlife preserve in No. California.

If you think this sort of behavior best represents the wine industry, do crown him.

I would be happy to respond to any message you wish to send me.

Helen Shane, former Planning Commissioner, City of Sebastopol

p.s. Is his Meomi label pronounced "Me Oh My" and does it indicate his state of mind as to his own self image?