Jess Jackson’s plan to build a winery in Knight’s 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.

The winery, to be known as Pelton House and located at Highway 128 near Franz Valley Road, is to be a “small, high-end winery,” according to an item on pressdemocrat.com. Although the major objection by residents of the area was to a tasting room, that remains a part of the new plan, because the brand will be sold only at the tasting room and through Kendall-Jackson’s distributors, said Barbara Banke, Jackson’s wife, who, with Jackson heads the wine-producing empire.

But the president of the Knights Valley and Franz Valley Association said the tasting room will bring “traffic, noise and lights … (and) is not something we would like to see in our agricultural and rural neighborhood.” He said there’s only one other winery in the area with a tasting room, and it’s open only by appointment.

Among the changes: The original proposal called for 10,000 case production; that has been reduced to 5,000; the winery would be limited to four special events per year, with a maximum of 200 people per event.

(It’s not a road that attracts a lot of tourists, so it’s not likely there will be a caravan of vehicles heading that way just because they offer tasting.)

Buying back goodwill

Last week we reported on a scandal in New Zealand involving a winery that allegedly sent to a critic a wine to review that is different from the ones found in the marketplace.

Tvnz.co.nz reports that the winery, Wither Hills, as a gesture of goodwill, now is offering a discount on bottles of its 2006 sauvignon blanc, the wine involved in the scandal — about $3.45 off the $11.75 price (U.S. currency).

(But you had to get the coupon in the local New Zealand papers, and it was good only from last Thursday through Sunday.)

The importance of a name

In mid-2005 the Napa Valley Vintners joined with the wine industries of Washington and Oregon, the Walla Walla Wine Alliance and three regions in Europe — Port, Jerez (sherry) and Champagne — to sign a declaration that asserts the importance of locations where wine grapes are grown and aims to protect the names of those places.

Now, the organization that sprung up out of that, the Center for Wine Origins, is attempting to rally support for the concept from consumers by placing a petition online “to articulate the need to protect place names as a priority of consumers and wine regions alike,” according to a press release.

A survey indicated 85 percent of consumers polled believe the origin of wine is important in their decision to buy wine, and 81 percent say that wines should be allowed to use a specific geographic location on their labels only if they are actually made in that location.

The petition can be found at www.protectplace.com.

(I wonder if they’ll send a petition to Fred Franzia to sign.)

   

Becoming a brand

A bill recently introduced in the California Legislature would require wineries that use a Paso Robles sub-appellation on the label to also use the Paso Robles AVA on the label, as well.

According to winebusiness.com, the law is intended to help promote Paso Robles as an international brand. The article said that while the marketing of sub-appellations is desirable, it can have the potential of diluting the prominence of the overall Paso Robles wine producing area. A petition to create some sub-appellations is expected to be submitted to the TTB within a few weeks.

“We looked at Napa’s statute from 1990 and we have basically followed the model they created to ensure we create a stronger tie between the Paso Robles AVA and future sub-appellations that will be wholly contained within our AVA,” said Stacie Jacob, executive director of the Paso Robles Wine Alliance.

(Once again Napa Valley leads the way.)

Frozen assets?

The price of wine continues to go up.

A while back we reported on a bottle of Royal DeMaria Canadian chardonnay icewine that was being sold for $27,000. Now, owner Joseph DeMaria, thinks he can sell the last bottle of the lot at $430,000 (that’s in U.S. currency).

(Would that be paid in cold cash?)

Making a holiday toast

Here’s something you can try during the holidays: Make a toast with something other than “Cheers” (which is actually a British expression).

A votre sante – French

Alla salute – Italian

L’Chaim – Hebrew

Egé szé gé re – Hungarian

Kanpai – Japanese

Na Zdrowie – Polish

Ooogy Wawa – Zulu

Prosit – German

Salud – Spanish

Saúde – Brazilian

Skal – Swedish

Slainte – Irish

Wen Lie – Chinese

Yasas – Greek

Za vashe zdorovye – Russian

Zivili – Serbian

Zum Wohl – Austrian

And this one comes from Richard Cabouret at ILA-Chateau Group: “Remember that classic Christmas saying, “Better a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”

(However you wish to say it: Here’s to you! Happy Holidays.)

Jack Heeger can be reached at jheeger@napanews.com.