Save Knights Valley
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
In the News
April 20,
2007
winebusiness.com
Napa
Valley Register
K-J plans for Knights Valley winery stir controversy. The controversy lingers even though the plan has been scaled back from the original presented two years ago. Knights Valley is a quiet grapegrowing region divided in Sonoma County, just five miles from Calistoga along Highway 128. by John Waters, Jr.
Weekly Calistogan
Jackson Knights Valley winery plan ignites passions - Loyalties change as ‘unstoppable’ build-out inches forward. by John Waters, Jr.
April 15,
2007
KRCB
FM 91.1 Mouthful radio show podcast
Mouthful - The Wine Country's Most Delicious Hour. Will the pristine Knights Valley, home of Peter Michael Winery and the historic Laufenberger Ranch, become the next tourist playland? Mouthful revisits efforts to save Knights Valley from wine baron Jess Jackson’s plan for its first tasting room.
December
21,2006
Napa
Valley Register
The World in a Glass: Knights Valley winery plans scaled back. Jess Jackson's plan to build a winery in Knights Valley was met with great opposition when it was first proposed, so the plans have been scaled back considerably, and a new version is being submitted for consideration. by Jack Heeger
The Press Democrat
Harvey Hoefer replies to Paul Payne's article noting that: "A winery also needs to be planned where it can coexist with resources like water, flora and fauna, and, yes, people who live there. [Jackson's] is not just a 'planned winery,' this is a commercial monster..." in a "designated conservation zone."
Jaime Zukowski replies to Paul Payne's article adding that Jess Jackson's plan to build a winery in Knights Valley is incidental to his big picture plan to build a "franchise-like retail outlet, event center and offices to support the Jackson empire." She also notes that "tourist attractions and industry events centers are not agriculture" and "not every valley need be a Disneyland."
The Press Democrat
Paul Payne writes that "billionaire vintner Jess Jackson is planning another winery in rural Sonoma County, this time a small operation in picturesque Knights Valley. And like the Kendall-Jackson founder's previous venture in the nearby Alexander Valley, the proposal is drawing fire from neighbors who say it would be a crass tourist attraction and wouldn't fit with the area's vineyards and cattle ranches...."
David Ryan writes: "Just over the county line from Calistoga, there is a 37,000-acre picture-postcard valley with a winemaking history just as old as Napa County. But Knight's Valley has been immune to tourist-oriented tasting rooms -- so far. Now, a land-use battle is shaping up between residents who cherish Knights Valley's rural grape-growing atmosphere and billionaire winery owner Jess Jackson, of Santa Rosa-based Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Estates...."
Craig Enyart writes that new developments in agricultural areas (such as Jess Jackson's plan to build a winery-themed development which includes an industry event center, a retail sales outlet, and possibly even a hotel)..."will undermine what has made this a world-renowned wine country and rich agricultural resource.... Those that have invested their lives here in Knights Valley and the other agricultural areas which have given this region the name 'wine country' have upheld the law of the land. We expect the winery developers to do the same."
Amy Grable writes that Jess Jackson "has applied for a permit to tear down a 100+ year-old stone barn to build a new winery, public tasting room, gift shop and 200-person event center in the heart of our natural landscape... in spite of the fact that we have an area specific plan in place to preserve the rural nature of Knights Valley." She also notes "the importance of preserving the culture and landscape that defines not only Knights Valley, but the whole of Napa and Sonoma counties."
July
21, 2005
The Weekly Calistogan
Meredith Blau writes that Commercial development on scale of Jess Jackson's proposed Knights Valley winery "could place a strain on the already fragile Russian River watershed and strain an important ground water recharge zone in Knights Valley.... We need to let our elected officials know that in addition to loss of water, this pastoral setting with grazing cattle, orchards and endless rows of vines could be lost forever to rampant commercial development."
The Weekly Calistogan
Gloria Ball praises Conaway's article and discusses threats posed to Sonoma County as large scale tourist development continues at the cost of agricultural ambiance.
The Weekly Calistogan
Publisher Doug Ernst asks:"Will 'property rights' kill agriculture?" He continues: "James Conaway, editor of Preservation magazine and the author of two books on the Napa Valley, has written a very thoughtful piece about the potential demise of Napa Valley agriculture if wineries are allowed to grow unchecked."
Preservation
San Francisco Chronicle