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The Lake County Wineries Association officially formed in July, said Matt Hughes of Zoom Winery in Kelseyville, who chairs the association's board.
Hughes said a core group – including Clay Shannon of Shannon Ridge Winery in Clearlake Oaks, Jed Steele of Steele Wines in Kelseyville and Gregory Graham of Lower Lake's Gregory Graham Wines – organized the effort.
Shannon and Graham now sit on the board with Hughes, serving as secretary and vice chair, respectively; and are joined by Sandy Tucker of Langtry Estate & Vineyards in Middletown and Nicole Johnson of Cougar's Leap in Kelseyville.
The association's goal will be to promote Lake County as a wine region and destination, said Hughes. They'll meet that goal through events such as the Lake County Wine Adventure, which will come under the association's umbrella.
“We wanted to do more of these things as a group to give ourselves a voice in the county,” said Hughes.
Lake County is home to 25 wineries, said Hughes, most of which have tasting rooms. Most of the local wineries, he added, are small, producing less than 5,000 cases of wine each year.
“We want to let people know Lake County is here as a wine region,” Hughes said.
This new association will join the Lake County Winegrape Commission in promoting the local wine industry.
The winegrape commission was formed in 1992, and is the oldest such commission in California, said Executive Director Shannon Gunier. Sonoma and Mendocino counties recently formed their own winegrape commissions, she added, with Mendocino forming their's because of Lake County's success.
Gunier said the winegrape commission has focused on branding Lake County as a winegrape-growing region. So far there are 94 wines that carry the Lake County name on their labels, and the county has five wine growing appellations -- Lake County, High Valley, Red Hills, Benmore Valley and Guenoc, with Big Valley and a possible Kelseyville Bench appellation in the future.
Lake County's winegrape acreage is at 8,800 “and holding,” with not much new planting going on right now, said Gunier. She estimates that the acreage will grow to between 10,000 and 12,000 acres over the next few years.
Eighty percent of the grapes grown in Lake County are sold outside of it, she added. All told, winegrapes are a $35 million industry in Lake County.
Gunier said Cabernet Sauvignon is the leading varietal locally, followed by Sauvignon Blanc; the two varietals together account for 95 percent of the winegrapes in Lake County.
And Lake's Cabernet Sauvignon is a good one, Gunier said, tasting like Napa's Cabernet but without the steep price.
Gunier said the winegrape commission is excited to see the wineries association form, and that they
look forward to partnering with them. She said the commission has money earmarked for promotions, including a campaign to encourage wine drinkers to buy local wines. Gunier added that local wineries definitely need better coverage at local retailers and restaurants. She
“I think you'll see us, the growers, partner with them a lot on doing promotions,” she said.
Clay Shannon, who also chairs the winegrape commission's board, agrees.
“We'll definitely have some things we can do together,” he said. “It just makes sense.”
Creating demand for wine, he added, automatically creates demand for winegrapes.
The wineries association already has marketing plans that include conducting media events in the Bay Area and on the East Coast possibly as early as this fall.
They'll also work on creating other wine-promoting events like the Wine Adventure, which Shannon said has grown larger and more successful over its first three years.
Hughes added, “We want to bring more people into Lake County and let them know it's a winery destination now.”
Seeing the audience for their products grow has led local wineries to be optimistic about future possibilities, said Shannon.
He said of Lake County, “It's just a totally different place to hang out and taste wine.”
Wineries plan for growing demands
The wineries association comes at a time when demand for Lake County wines is growing.
Lake County's largest winery, Langtry Estate & Vineyards, produces 160,000 cases of wine annually at its Middletown site, said Craig Moore, Langtry's national sales manager.
From January of July through this year, sales for wines produced by Langtry Estate & Vineyards were up 38-percent, according to a recent company statement.
Moore told Lake County News that there is a definite shift in consumer tastes to brands that are above the $10 price point.
The winery's Langtry label produces wines ranging from $25 to $40 a bottle, with varietals including Petite Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. They also have wine blends featuring all of the Bordeaux varieties – Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Merlot and Malbec, Moore said.
The winery also produces the Guenoc wine label with wines ranging between $12 and $16, and a $45 port, Moore said.
Although there is aggressive competition from Australian imports, Moore said wineries like Langtry have escaped the affects of the wine glut.
“There's worldwide surplus, and that's never going to go away, because America will always be the No. 1 target,” he said.
Langtry grows most of its own grapes on 420 acres on the 22,000-acre estate, with some extra fruit purchased from neighbors, said Moore.
It's also the only winery in the country to have its own wine appellation – Guenoc – and that's something they want to build on, said Moore.
California wines are gaining increasing popularity worldwide, said Moore, as the state's taste profiles become more widely accepted.
Moore said there isn't any magic to increasing Langtry's sales. While California is their dominant market, Moore said Langtry has aggressively pursued sales in metropolitan areas around the country, the East Coast corridor of Washington D.C. to Boston, Canada and the Caribbean.
Langtry has focused on “pour it and they will come” strategy, said Moore.
That strategy is working well with the winery's increasing focus on quality, said Moore. “I think the quality right now that we're putting out is as good as we've ever done.”
He said Langtry's staff sees the winery as the county leader, and they promote Lake County heavily.
“We have a lot of faith in the future of this region,” he said.
So much faith, that they're looking at growth in the next five years, said Moore.
They've already laid the groundwork for significant expansion. In the last 18 months, Moore said Langtry has expanded its capacity with new barrel storage and tanks and new wastewater ponds.
The winery also has new wastewater treatment plans and monitoring requirements to come into compliance with Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board standards, according to the regional board's documents.
“We could double our business here with the infrastructure we have now,” Moore said, adding they only would need more grapes.
Next steps for the association
Membership in the association will be voluntary, and there will be opportunities for those with an interest in the wine industry – who don't necessarily work within it – to join as associate members, said Hughes. Shannon said he expects 90 percent of the local wineries to join.
There is still a lot to do, both Hughes and Shannon reported.
The group right now is collecting membership applications and setting up a Web site. Shannon added that the board this month is working on its budget.
Shannon said there's also the matter of the association applying for nonprofit status and seeking grants and funding.
“I think it's going to be a great thing for the county,” said Hughes.
For more information contact the Lake County Wineries Association, 263-8001, or send mail to 401 11th St., P.O. Box 1829, Lakeport, CA 95453.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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LUCERNE – Lucerne's two water groups elected new members of their boards of directors at a Saturday meeting at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center.
About a dozen people attended the afternoon meeting.
New directors of the Lucerne Community Water Organization are past president Craig Bach, Jerry Morehouse, Hogan Cheung, Ed Moore and Jim Wilkie.
LucerneFLOW elected Karen Kennedy, Morehouse, Diane Behne, Gregory Cavness, Dallas Cook and alternate Tricia Van den Berghe.
Both groups are nonprofit educational and charitable associations, whose directors elect the officers. LCWO was formed in 2005 to intervene with the California Public Utilities Commission when California Water Service requested a 246-percent rate increase. LucerneFLOW'S goal is to acquire the water system as a public entity.
LucerneFLOW meets on the first Thursday of the month and LCWO at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday. Locations will be announced.
For more information call Van den Berghe at 274-8510.
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Seat belt usage by California motorists is at a new record high, 94.6 percent, according to an annual survey commissioned by the state Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).
That's an improvement of more than 2 percent during the past two years, according to the study. In 2005, the figure was 92.5 percent; in 2006 it rose to 93.4 percent.
"These numbers are literally the difference between life and death. The increase this year means an estimated 372,000 more Californians are buckling up," said Business, Transportation and Housing Secretary Dale Bonner, who announced the new last week at the annual California law Enforcement Challenge Awards in San Diego.
The California Highway Patrol and local police departments have increased public awareness of the life-saving benefits of wearing a seat belt during the past year.
OTS, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has provided funding for officer overtime for enforcement efforts and for educational outreach programs to encourage people to always wear their seat belts.
"These aren't just numbers. They are real lives saved and real tragedies averted," sad CHP Commissioner Mike Brown.
"These numbers are great, but we won't rest until we've convinced everyone that wearing their seat belt is the smart thing to do," stated OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. "It takes just two seconds to save
a life."
In 2006, the CHP issued 254,328 citations for people not wearing their seat belts. Fines have been significantly increased the past two years.
The combination of enforcement and education is the key to changing behavior. Commissioner Brown warns that CHP officers will continue to aggressively seek out those holdouts who still don't get the message.
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Daniel Williamson, 25, of Clearlake was shot multiple times Thursday evening, according to a report from Clearlake Police Sgt. Brett Rhodes.
Rhodes said that Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where Williamson was life-flighted Thursday, reported Williamson's condition had not changed.
The shooting occurred near the Mormon Church on Bay Street, Rhodes said.
Williamson originally was driven to the Redbud Hospital emergency room by an individual, not emergency personnel; Rhodes said police are still investigating who drove him there.
Rhodes said they could not yet comment on the number of times Williamson was shot or the type of gun that was used. He said Williamson appeared to have suffered other, unspecified injuries as well.
While conducting interviews for the investigation, police contacted a man named John Smith who they took into custody on a parole hold, said Rhodes.
Williamson's home was targeted for a parole search on Aug. 28 according to police records. That was the same day as a multi-agency task force was conducting similar searches of parolees with gang contacts around the county.
However, Rhodes could not confirm if Williamson had actually been a target of the sweep or if the timing was a coincidence. He said police have not yet been able to determine if the shooting is gang-related.
Det. Martin Snyder is leading the investigation, said Rhodes.
“We have several leads that we're pursuing and persons of interest that we're looking at, but there's no definitive time as to when the investigation will be concluded,” Rhodes said.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Snyder or Officer Michael Ray at 994-8251.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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“I thank my colleagues in both houses for their support on my bills, which cover a range of topics that are important to the people of the 2nd Senate District,” Wiggins said. “I also appreciate the fact that the Governor has already signed three of my bills into law, which gives me hope that he will sign the others as well.”
In numerical order, the Wiggins bills awaiting a decision by Schwarzenegger are as follows:
SB 108, which modifies an existing provision of law allowing wine orders to be taken at wine tasting events held by specified non-profit organizations to include three additional types of non-profit: civic leagues, social organizations, and voluntary employees' beneficiary associations;
SB 319, extending an existing exemption to state labor law allowing 16- and 17-year-olds in Lake County to work up to 10 hours a day and up to 60 hours a week in agricultural packing plants during harvest season (when school is not in session);
SB 557, designating Doctors of Audiology as professionals eligible to serve as qualified medical examiners for the evaluation of medical-legal issues in worker’s compensation claims;
SB 565, providing for the position of “hospital administrator” at the Yountville Veterans Home;
SB 568, authorizing counties to allow, following a required court hearing, the involuntarily medication of inmates who are diagnosed as mentally ill and are found incompetent to stand trial (the bill requires involuntary medications be administered utilizing a medically approved protocol administered at a county jail facility, in the same manner as an in-patient unit or state hospital);
SB 581, allowing the Volunteer Firefighter Length of Service Award fund (an employee-funded program that provides a very small monthly stipend to people who perform long service to their communities as volunteer firefighters) to be removed from administration by CalPERS and placed with a stand-alone board of administration composed of members of the program);
SB 678, enabling Napa County to purchase Skyline Park, which is currently state surplus property, from the state at fair market value;
SB 701, which would reinstate the previously-expired California Forest Legacy Program, which is designed to protect forest land, including working forests, from conversion to other purposes (the California Forest Legacy Program is necessary for the state to receive federal funds for forest conservation);
SB 735, requiring the state Department of Transportation, or CalTrans, to track the use of recycled aggregate materials;
SB 773, allowing 43-foot cattle trailers to be used in transporting livestock over certain parts of Hwy 101;
SB 861, enabling the North Coast Railroad Authority to divert $5.5 million, previously designed for repayment of a federal loan which has since been forgiven, for other purposes;
The three Wiggins bills already signed into law by the governor are SB 106 (ratifying the gaming compact between the Yurok Tribe and the state), SB 556 (establishing the Light Brown Apple Moth Act of 2007 and establishing a program to fund eradication activities), and SB 813 (clarifying portions of the state election code).
In addition, Wiggins has a number of bills that are still alive and will be carried over into 2008, among them:
SB 562, focusing on salmon restoration funding;
SB 695, focusing on recruitment and retention of wardens at the state Department of Fish & Game;
SB 992, focusing on adult recovery maintenance facilities.
Visit Wiggins' Web site at http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com/.
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A statement issued early Friday morning by the Clearlake Police Department reported that officers responded to Redbud Hospital's emergency room at 9:07 p.m. on the report of a shooting victim.
At the hospital officers found Daniel Williamson, 25, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Williamson was life-flighted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital by REACH helicopter, where police said he was last reported in critical condition.
The investigation is ongoing, with police identifying and interviewing several people of interest, according to the statement.
In particular, police contacted 20-year-old John Smith, who was arrested on a parole hold.
Anyone with information on the case should contact Officer Ray or Det. Martin Snyder at 994-8251.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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