Sunday, June 12, 2016

Meanwhile, at Justin Vineyards...

The new owners of Justin are clear-cutting old growth oak forests to make room for more grape vines plus a huge reservoir, the filling of which will likely lower the aquifer level of the entire area, thereby impacting the wells of every neighbor they have (which luckily is not us).

They put some bullshit statement on their website about planting 5,000 NEW oaks to replace the century-old forest they ripped from the ground, but those will take 100 years to grow, assuming of course that they CAN grow to maturity amidst fields of water-sucking grapes, which I doubt. 

As for replacing the habitat and ecosystem of an entire oak forest? Ain't gonna happen, people.

If you drink Justin wines, this is the kind of environmental stewardship you are supporting with each bottle purchase. I don't know about you, but I've enjoyed my last bottle of Justin wine.

Actually the one thing I can say about their wines now is that they have unmistakable notes of dead forest on the palate and a very bitter finish. For me, anyway.


Here's a link to the article if you'd like to read it.

http://pasoroblesdailynews.com/justin-winery-clear-cutting/56473/

6 comments:

  1. Horrific! I'm shocked that California couldn't police/control this in some way. I don't think I am a customer of theirs but I will look into that further.

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    1. They had a permit to add grapes to the area and did not mention taking out one single tree, much less an entire forest! Unfortunately whether they are fined or sanctioned somehow, it's too late to ever bring that forest and all the wildlife living in it back. Isn't that sad? Think of the nesting birds in all those trees this time of year, the does and fawns and other creatures. It's just so awful.

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  2. This makes me angry. I cannot believe how much they've been able to take from our land, whatever they want. I get sick thinking about the damage they have done and continue to do. And all the land they own east of here which is targeted for water farming in the Central Valley. Once Justin sold, it opened the door to these people who have no conscience.

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    1. Amen, Denise. No conscience indeed. It is truly sickening and they will never get one dime from me ever again, whether it's Fiji Water, POM pomegranate juice or Justin wines.

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  3. Thanks for sharing. I used to love Justin wines. Will not be buying any more!

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    1. You're in a lot of good company on that one! I also will never purchase or even drink their wine again. It comes at too high a cost environmentally. This is permanent removal of irreplaceable forest that was here long before any of us came here.

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