Posted in reply to the post by Edward Mendoza:
https://trip.worldtravellist.com/201...rsus-red-wines
August 28, 2011
By nick
The redwood tree and the wine grapevine are both iconic in Northern California. Two wineries are petitioning the state to let them clear redwoods and Douglas firs to make room for new Pinot Noir vineyards. Environmentalists want the trees protected.
Chris Poehlmann, right, with fellow environmentalist Peter Baye, says: “We are not going to let them rip these trees out by their roots, change the soil chemistry with amendments and develop neighborhoods so that these forests will never grow back.” (Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times)
Two plants have long been iconic to Northern California: the soaring redwood tree and the lush wine grapevine. But should one be sacrificed for the other?
That question is being raised in Sonoma County a few miles from the Pacific and above the fog line, where two large wineries are petitioning the state to allow them to clear 2,000 acres of redwoods and Douglas firs to make room for new Pinot Noir vineyards.
Sonoma County planners say it would be the largest woodland-to-vineyard conversion in California’s history and, not surprisingly, it’s touched off a debate between fans of the majestic trees and aficionados of the grapes.
On one side are vintners eager to satisfy the public’s growing taste for California Pinot Noir, a varietal that has a growing fan base and is part of the post-recession rebound of the state’s wine industry.
On the other are environmentalists who want to protect the ecosystem of second-growth forests still recovering from earlier logging and even some winemakers, who are uneasy with the idea of cutting down redwoods to expand their industry’s reach.
Codorniu, based in Spain and one of the world’s largest wine producers, wants to use the land to expand the grape production of its winery in Napa, called Artesa. Another Napa winery, Premier Pacific Vineyards, wants to cultivate more Pinot Noir grapes and build 60 high-end estates on adjacent lands it already owns, called Preservation Ranch.
For more information click on the link above.