Kids drink water, not wine!

Wednesday night 200 people from the town of La Honda and surrounding community gathered at La Honda Elementary School to voice their concerns over the water in La Honda at a Winery Scoping Hearing.

La Honda Elementary School is just two weeks away from having potable water for the first time in 7 years.  And now it is being threatened.

Several years ago semiconductor millionairre TJ Rodgers and his domestic partner Voleta Massey began planting grapes on the hills above Cuesta La Honda’s water supply.  They originally informed the residents that this would be a small, quiet, hobby endeavor, and that they would use all organic farming techniques to produce the finest Pinot Noir in the world.

Unfortunately, that has all changed!  A year ago the town became concerned when the sounds of dynamite blasting echoed through the hills of La Honda as Rodgers & Massey’s Clos de la Tech Winery began excavating three caves in the side of the hill high above the town’s water supply Tunnel Springs and Woodhams creek, and directly visible from the parking lot at La Honda Elemetary School.

The townspeople learned that the blasting was to prepare for building 3 huge caves for bottling and production of 13,000 cases of wine per year.  There had been no blasting permit issued by the county, and no notification to the residents that such an unpleasant, noisy and disconcerting effort was in the works.  At this time in San Mateo County the production limit is 2500 cases,  and Rodgers & Massey hope to change the law to accommodate their dream.

Meanwhile, the diverse and educated people of La Honda took it upon themselves to present very well researched information, concerns, and issues that may be impacted by this "vertical winery" which hosts plantings on slopes as steep as 60-70%.

La Honda residents took turns speaking of their concerns about contamination of the water supply for the whole town as well as for the wildlife in the watershed between here and the coast.  They spoke of traffic concerns, increased traffic driving on these narrow, windy roads with perhaps a few glasses of fine Pinot Noir in their tummies as well as all of the large trucks and equipment needed to operate a large scale winery, creating more deadly accidents on the highway.  Local experts with PhD’s in biological and geological sciences geological and watershed spoke of surrounding watershed data which clearly demonstrate the dangers to the environment and wildlife if such an operation were to continue without extreme restrictions.

Children of La Honda Elementary School spoke about their concerns about the winery contaminating the clean water that has been long in coming to the school.  Others discussed their concern for the animals, both wild and domestic, that might be injured, misplaced, or lost forever due to a large, noisy operation draining chemicals down the hill into the water and soil.

In general, people were very focused on their particular issues of concern and were very respectful of each other.

We just want to drink clean water, is that too much to ask?

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Chronicle has a long article about the Winery controversy.