Article: Wine Industry Formally Eyes Coastal Conversions

[Ernieman]

Ernie Carpenter
WaccoBB.net

Here is a report from the April, Santa Rosa Wine Industry conference. It is official folks; the wine industry is eying the coast for cheap lands and the next big boom in grape planting. The claim is that we are running out of grape land in the flat areas. This was reported in the Press Democrat article about the conference.

“Wine inventories are running low, the grapes vintners crush to make the wine are in short supply, and the problem is not going to get easier any time soon.”
Cathy Bussewitz, Press Democrat April 18, 2012

This only scratches the surface of the conference. The Press Democrat did not report the words from the President of the Kendall Jackson wine group. There was a note taken at the conference and here is what he reported;

“Rick Tigner, Pres. of KJ, was the first speaker at the conference. KJ is one of the largest “family” wine groups in the country. KJ has 30 brands producing 5.5 million cases annually. They own over 30,000 acres of land of which well over 10,000 are currently planted. They are in an aggressive move towards “mountains, hillsides, ridge tops, and benches” especially in the coastal hills of Sonoma County. 75% of their current vineyards are in this kind of locale. Tigner made reference to currently buying up parcels in the west county, and the search and process is continuing."

The second largest wine business in Sonoma County is currently buying up coastal hills land for grapes. What is disturbing is the following quote from the Business Journal, owned by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, on the conference:

“Local, regional and state regulators have demonstrated an uncanny ability to drive away business across a broad variety of industries. For wine, they could do the same, whether with new rules on water, frost protection, hillside vineyards (emphasis added) or open space and on and on.”
Brad Bollinger April 20, North bay Business Journal

So folks, get ready for the next assault on the coastal environment. The big 1% wineries are already moving in and others are sure to follow. The battles we see now for nature and neighborhood are small compared to the assault to come.

Now, with this being said, there are places that grapes can be grown. The issue is forest conversion, habitat, stream protection and introducing the clamor of semi trucks, wineries, pesticides and herbicides in to our pristine coastal forest areas. The County of Sonoma is loath to regulate the wine industry and this issue in particular.

The question becomes “Do you trust this Board of Supervisors to protect forest, habitat, and your life style?” I know I don’t.

Ernie Carpenter served as Sonoma County Supervisor for the 5th District from 1981 - 1996; He is now candidate for that position again.
https://www.erniecarpenter.com/

[Dixon]

Wine inventories are running low, the grapes vintners crush to make the wine are in short supply, and the problem is not going to get easier any time soon.

Obvious solution: drink less wine--duh! It's kinda pathetic to see all these foodies and wine snobs who seem to think that it's not possible to enjoy dinner without wine. To those folks, I suggest asking yourself how long it's been since you've gone, say, 2 or 3 days without any alcohol. If the true answer is "a long time", guess what--you're an alcoholic, regardless of whether you get your fix from fine crystal goblets over $1,000 dinners or from a brown-paper-bag-swathed bottle in the gutter. If enough people kicked their habit, we wouldn't have to destroy more habitat to keep them supplied with their drug of choice.

And of course, with this problem as with most of our problems, decreasing the human population is a huge part of the solution. Gotten your vasectomy yet, guys?

[sambacat]

Well, Dixon.... I really don't think that even if every single person on WACCO gave up drinking wine that the vintners buying up our land would throw their hands up and say, "Well, that's it then. We're closin up shop and going into another line of work." You might need to wake up and smell the Cabernet. People from all over the world drink wine made from Sonoma-grown grapes.
We need to look for more practical solutions regarding the protection of our forests and habitats. We not only need very specific regulations regarding the protection of ridges, erosion control, ephemeral streams, creeks and river degradation, wildlife corridors, etc., we need much stronger enforcement of violations and much more stringent penalties than are currently in place. I mean, regulation, schmegulation -- if it doesn't hurt really really bad when you violate one, then ..... what good are they? I mean, as things stand, giant companies such as Kendall Jackson and others would be very willing to get their corporate wrists slapped and pay a few thousand $$ to destroy a stream or cut down a forest. Ernie..... Efren --- I'd love to hear you address the penalty issue, not just more talk about regulations that are meaningless if not enforced.
Cheers.

[Garnette]

no more vineyards,,, I live in an area that had wonderful biodiversity, In the 50+ years my family has owned this property I have seen fewer and fewer life forms making use of the many acres across the road from us. The trees where birds nested are gone.. rabbits have all but disappeared here, the open areas where hawk and kestrel hunted are gone. the little bobcat on the road to forestville because it was confused by its inability to get off the road due to the fencing, he was gone before I could turn around to see if he could be saved. They take our water and can have as many wells on their property as it takes to water in the summer... we had to go down 145-150 feet to reach the water that used to be at 50 feet. You have to wonder what is filling in the holes that used to be water.. Is it going to collapse one day. I heard one wine (g)rapist say blithely that the aquifers could be refilled with santa rosa waste water... now that would make some fine lemon- aid for all of us on wells out this way.
I see the vineyards as destroyers of biodiversity, adding who knows what to our soil system when they fumigate and replant (for a tax deduction), vampires of our water system and again, who knows what they are spraying while we watch it drift cross the road and stick to our windows, windshilds, dog water bowls and sometimes you can feel a slight burn on your tongue like touching it to a battery.

One year they pulled out a lot of the vines across the roadt and piled them up in huge heaps and I thought that surely they weren't going to try to burn them!!!! sure enough in a day or so there was (toxic?) smoke drifting across the road and filling our property so much it was dangerous for my elderly parents to breathe. I called everyone I could think of to complain and it took a week or so but there were no more fires and eventually the heaps were hauled away.

well..that is my soap box and I am anti-vineyard. Right now I have a doe and two fawns living in shadows here. there's no place they can really go that wouldn't be dangerous for them... the road? the vineyard? maybe they could make it down the side of the road to somewhere safe? but the days of just gettting across the road to the trees and meadows are gone.... i hope they return someday.

[MarilynO]

Thank you so much for this poignant and tragic testimony. The vinters (with few exceptions) are irresponsible, shortsighted and greedy and it is outrageous that they are given such free reign to destroy life. I plead with everyone to either boycott wine all together or to at least make sure you are buying wine made by organic and earth-friendly vintners.

no more vineyards,,, I live in an area that had wonderful biodiversity, In the 50+ years my family has owned this property I have seen fewer and fewer life forms making use of the many acres across the road from us. The trees where birds nested are gone.. rabbits have all but disappeared here, the open areas where hawk and kestrel hunted are gone. the little bobcat on the road to forestville because it was confused by its inability to get off the road due to the fencing, he was gone before I could turn around to see if he could be saved. They take our water and can have as many wells on their property as it takes to water in the summer... we had to go down 145-150 feet to reach the water that used to be at 50 feet. You have to wonder what is filling in the holes that used to be water.. Is it going to collapse one day. I heard one wine (g)rapist say blithely that the aquifers could be refilled with santa rosa waste water... now that would make some fine lemon- aid for all of us on wells out this way.
I see the vineyards as destroyers of biodiversity, adding who knows what to our soil system when they fumigate and replant (for a tax deduction), vampires of our water system and again, who knows what they are spraying while we watch it drift cross the road and stick to our windows, windshilds, dog water bowls and sometimes you can feel a slight burn on your tongue like touching it to a battery.

One year they pulled out a lot of the vines across the roadt and piled them up in huge heaps and I thought that surely they weren't going to try to burn them!!!! sure enough in a day or so there was (toxic?) smoke drifting across the road and filling our property so much it was dangerous for my elderly parents to breathe. I called everyone I could think of to complain and it took a week or so but there were no more fires and eventually the heaps were hauled away.

well..that is my soap box and I am anti-vineyard. Right now I have a doe and two fawns living in shadows here. there's no place they can really go that wouldn't be dangerous for them... the road? the vineyard? maybe they could make it down the side of the road to somewhere safe? but the days of just gettting across the road to the trees and meadows are gone.... i hope they return someday.

[Garnette]

And the penalty should be doubled... no... QUADRUPLED if they have already done something wrong,
and hoping no one will notice and they will get get away with it. and whatever they have cut down should be replanted and whatever they plant should be pulled up and taken to the land fill for composting Better yet suspend all vineyard increases of any kind until we know what they are doing to our environment, our water supply, and our natural habitat. Once that is cleared up they will know better than to ask for increased land (g)rarping. The natural beauty of our land should not/can not be sacrificed to an elitist few

Well, Dixon.... I really don't think that even if every single person on WACCO gave up drinking wine that the vintners buying up our land would throw their hands up and say, "Well, that's it then. We're closin up shop and going into another line of work." You might need to wake up and smell the Cabernet. People from all over the world drink wine made from Sonoma-grown grapes.
We need to look for more practical solutions regarding the protection of our forests and habitats. We not only need very specific regulations regarding the protection of ridges, erosion control, ephemeral streams, creeks and river degradation, wildlife corridors, etc., we need much stronger enforcement of violations and much more stringent penalties than are currently in place. I mean, regulation, schmegulation -- if it doesn't hurt really really bad when you violate one, then ..... what good are they? I mean, as things stand, giant companies such as Kendall Jackson and others would be very willing to get their corporate wrists slapped and pay a few thousand $$ to destroy a stream or cut down a forest. Ernie..... Efren --- I'd love to hear you address the penalty issue, not just more talk about regulations that are meaningless if not enforced.
Cheers.

[podfish]

nice way to respect your neighbors. I've got a new vineyard near me, so I could nimby-whine as much as anyone. But I understand the vineyard manager's perspective. I don't live in a suburban paradise or condominium complex with a CCI or whatever the ruling board acronym is - I live in a semi-rural area, that used to be fully rural, and it would be rather silly to expect it to suddenly operate under a wildlife-preserve ethic. Farming was one of the original human industries, and agricultural areas are industrial areas. Some "vinters" are indeed greedy and destructive. But too many settlers in this county think they deserve to live in a nice garden environment. That's great if you can manage it, but not if it means demonizing those who are going about their business. There are plenty of issues that arise when residential areas encroach on farming areas; there are also farming practices that should be improved. Willingness to understand both uses of the land is essential - unless you're happy claiming your intended uses of the land are given by natural right, and those damn farmers should just go move their operations to some freshly clear-cut Amazonian jungle.

Thank you so much for this poignant and tragic testimony. The vinters (with few exceptions) are irresponsible, shortsighted and greedy and it is outrageous that they are given such free reign to destroy life.

[Garnette]

Neighbors?? what neighbors??? if you are talking about the owners of the vinyards...? those aren't neighbors by any stretch of the imagination- we never see them unless maybe flying over in a helicopter some suit making money off ruining the biodiversity of the land? a tax write off for someone with no thought of the people he could be effecting? hard to say who they are.

or... do you mean the ones on my left who have lived here longer than I have? maybe 65 years or so? or the ones behind me that had the grandparents that lived behind them ohhh close to 100+ years? the folks on my right are realitive new comers and bought the property from my "grandpa" who had lived there ohhh 45 years or so until he and his wife both passed away... and the people next up the road have been here 100+ years multiple generation family's and the new families with children in all directions on our side of the road.. Those are our neighbors and guess what? no one likes the vineyards.

we would like to have enough water to have a beautiful garden full of vegetables for the dinner table instead of the paltry 10x10 my father was finally reduced to because there was no water... geeee i wonder where it went??? when I had the new well put in I discussed the situation with someone in the biz and they agreed with me about the water situation. that the land (g)rapers were putting in as many wells as they wanted or could and that is where our water was going. there was a kind of aside whisper that something was going to be done about it.. hopefully that is true because we, the long time land owners aren't going anywhere soon and the younger generations will be coming up next.

podfish... there is so much to what you are saying in your post about "nimby whining" and "rather silly" and "wildlife preserve ethic" and my personal favorite "too many settlers in this county think they deserve to live in a nice garden environment." wow... i have to think that you were just having a trying day. I understand what you are saying but I'm really not too concerned with the little gentleman vineyards that pop up here and there and which by the way are being eyed for takeover by the big guys apparently. my mom and I used to love to make different kinds of wine.. raspberry wine was incredible.. and the pin cherry wine would put 4 card players on the floor with just one quart jar going around. but we never clear cut anything. we never took out old growth redwoods so we could plant more raspberries.. we never just went out and essentially took other peoples land over. we never fumigated acres and acres and who know what that does to the soil.. and the water.. and the wild life... so I remain completely anti vineyard and pro biodiversity and wild life and very possibly pro soil and air quality testing.
now im going to go out and check on the doe and her two fawns..
garnette

[Garnette]

I didn't have a vasectomy but I did have my tubes tied at the age of 21~ does that count?

Obvious solution: drink less wine--duh! It's kinda pathetic to see all these foodies and wine snobs who seem to think that it's not possible to enjoy dinner without wine. To those folks, I suggest asking yourself how long it's been since you've gone, say, 2 or 3 days without any alcohol. If the true answer is "a long time", guess what--you're an alcoholic, regardless of whether you get your fix from fine crystal goblets over $1,000 dinners or from a brown-paper-bag-swathed bottle in the gutter. If enough people kicked their habit, we wouldn't have to destroy more habitat to keep them supplied with their drug of choice.

And of course, with this problem as with most of our problems, decreasing the human population is a huge part of the solution. Gotten your vasectomy yet, guys?

[Dixon]

I didn't have a vasectomy but I did have my tubes tied at the age of 21~ does that count?

You betcha! I tend to emphasize vasectomies because they're less invasive and even safer than tubal ligations, and because a man can potentially sire more children than a woman can bear, but I'm pleased any time I see someone taking personal responsibility to decrease population growth, so thanks!

[podfish]

Neighbors?? what neighbors??? if you are talking about the owners of the vinyards...? those aren't neighbors by any stretch of the imagination- we never see them unless maybe flying over in a helicopter some suit making money off ruining the biodiversity of the land? a tax write off for someone with no thought of the people he could be effecting? hard to say who they are

My issue is with this characterization of the industry. There are real problems with water usage; there are concerns about monoculture; there's overclearing of forested land and there's misuse of tax exemptions for working farms. All bad, all needing solutions. The modern taste for turning all this into clashes of worldview makes it really difficult to reach compromise and consensus. It's usually a bad idea to begin negotiations by stating that they're all "irresponsible, shortsighted and greedy". It doesn't offer much opportunity for coexistence.

The pitched battle over the pharmacy & bank development is entertaining enough, but does every land use conflict need that treatment? The level of hyperbole ("vintners given free reign to destroy life") sounds ridiculous to me - and I'm sure that to those who actually have a personal involvement with the viticulture business it sounds even worse. This county can be a bit of an echo chamber, where it's easy to raise a chorus of like-minded folks. But there also are a lot of people who I've met here whose views aren't often heard on Wacco, who are a lot more supportive of ag in general.

As far as my "trying day", no, I kinda had an enjoyable day. Does it take having a trying day to sympathize with people having their motivations and characters trashed?

[Garnette]

what are the motivations...? what are the characters...? do they care about the people who live next to their property? or do they care about the $$ and this negotiation with the vineyards didn't START with "irresponsible, shortsighted and greedy". It started a long time ago with oh they're putting in vineyards across the road.. mmm grapes I wonder what kind?" I don't think we really cared all that much at the time. but if we had known then what we know now.. that eventually the vines would spread like mold on a damp wall and our gardens would shrink or disappear completely I hope to think that we would have put our foot down sooner.

you know.. the ones who profit from tobacco probably respond in a similar way to the level of hyperbole if you just substitute the words "the level of hyperbole ("tobacco growers given free reign to destroy life") sounds ridiculous to me - and I'm sure that to those who actually have a personal involvement with the tobacco business it sounds even worse" they don't care about us either.

I think there will come a time when people will remember those fields of vines and wire and posts once grew food and livestock and things that support our lives.

this is rushed because I have to go to work and I am only able to muse cause Im also having to watch the clock

[oliviathunderkitty]

It seems to me that one could consider your view of agriculture as narrow or nearly as narrow as someone who sees agriculture as simply the growing of grapes. Both attitudes are absurd; both activities are subsets of agriculture. Agriculture is cotton, corn, soy, tomatoes, grapes, apples, silage, hemp, olives, a truck farm (i.e, mixed vegetables), a flower farm, a dairy, a cattle ranch, an alpaca ranch and on and on and on. As many of us know, at the end of the 1800s grapes were pulled out and apples, prunes and such planted, as grapes were no longer profitable.

I assume what I will call vanity vineyards will fade away when they are no longer profitable or pleasurable.

This does not mean I support covering every inch of land with grapes. I do not. But grapes are not the problem. Greed and narrow-sightedness, as always, are the problems. Human nature is the problem.

I don't know, when I think of "agriculture," I conjure images of food as a raw material for an endless array of possibilities, or at least not of cultivation that is a high-end niche market from the get-go. Has anyone read this 2004 bestseller?
A Tale of Two Valleys: Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma by Alan Deutschman. Where's the sequel...

[Barry]

This does not mean I support covering every inch of land with grapes. I do not. But grapes are not the problem. Greed and narrow-sightedness, as always, are the problems. Human nature is the problem.

I agree!

I see two big problems:

1. Conversions of natural land (forests, etc) into agricultural land (grapes or whatever). This should be tightly controlled.
2. Sustainable Farming Practices. I'l like to see more regulation about how farmers take care of their land including pesticide and herbicide use and runoff control.

[oliviathunderkitty]

I'm not sure what you mean. Can you clarify your questions?

What about hobby vintners?