No, or Yes, on Measure C?

It's June already and on June 5th Napa County voters will be asked whether or not to approve Measure C.  The entire Napa Valley is in a tizzy over Measure C, so today I sat and read the 'Full Text of Measure C' (Ordinance No. 2018-01) in Vinomaker's copy of the Napa County Voter Information Guide to try and make some sense of the arguments for and against this contentious measure.
Oh my goodness, I could not make head nor tail of it.  Measure C's intent is to amend "the Napa County General Plan and Zoning Ordinance to establish 'water quality buffer zones' on parcels greater than one acre within the Agricultural Watershed zoning district and would limit tree removal, including both oak and non-oak species, within those zones."  Whaa?  I'm not quite sure what that even means.  There is way too much legal jargon, in the reading of this measure, to have it be understood by normal people.
One of the criticisms of the 'No on C' folks by the 'Yes on C' folks is that the No-folks have more money and so have the wherewithal to mail many more glossy pamphlets to the voting public.  A small, unscientific survey, by me, over a two week period did indeed uphold that grievance; 6 brochures for the No-folks and 2 for the Yes-folks.  (Just this morning, Vinomaker told me he had received even more and had promptly put them straight into the bin.)  Well, Yes-peeps, we don't live in Communist Russia (even Russians don't anymore because Communism doesn't work, well, except for the elite).  It's a fact of life that some people/groups just have more money than others.  Get over it!
If I could vote, and I can't, I would be a NO on Measure C.  The initiative, although well intentioned, is written very badly and is extremely vague.  Can we say, costly lawsuits?  Yes, we can.

A record grape year: 2012.

The cover story in today's Napa Valley Register reported the Friday release, by the California Department of Food & Agriculture, of the entire state of California's 2012 grape crop statistics.  Of course, I am primarily concerned with the Napa Valley's vitals, but overall it had me all misty-eyed.
The Napa Valley's 2012 grape crop weighed in at 383 tons more than the previous bumper tonnage, a record held since 2005, of 180,800 tons - that's a whopping 181,183 tons of glorious grapes in 2012.  And because there was a butt-load (technical term) more grapes, the value of Napa County's harvest increased from $412 million in 2011 to $648 million in 2012 - that's a 50% increase!
Some highlights; Cabernet Sauvignon prices rose 9% over last year to an average of $5,101 per ton (Paul Hobbs probably paid more - like $22,000 more);  Cabernet Franc was a close second averaging $5,053 per ton;  Pinot noir was the only grape variety to see a drop in price, just 1% though, to $2,485 per ton.  Perhaps better prices for bubbly down the road?  We'll see.
However, the grape variety that garnered the highest price per ton was...drum roll...Refosco. Who? Refosco, a grape variety widely planted in Fruili (Italy), but taking up a mere 5 acres of prime Napa Valley real estate, it was able to command a walloping $5,500 per ton for it's grower.  I'm thinking of ripping out Vinoland's Pinot grigio...

Ripped from the headlines.

Headlines can be alarming if taken out of context.  At first I thought this article, in today's Napa Register, was advocating the removal of wine-grapes to make way for other crops.  For a brief moment, I had visions of the vineyards at TWWIAGE being ripped out and planted over to spuds. But fear not, banishing Vitis vinifera from the county of Napa is not the type of agricultural alteration the reformers in the article have in mind. Phew!
A group of local chefs, growers, residents and local government officials (including the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner, Dave Whitmer) have banded together to form a Local Food Advisory Council whose goal is to advance a more sustainable approach to the local food system.  I'm all for promoting local produce, for me it means fresher and tastier food on my plate.  But let's also continue to promote wine-grapes, those precious little berries that bring in a whole lot of revenue.