The Real Price of a Bottle of Wine from Sonoma and Napa Valley
The wines of Sonoma and Napa Valleys are very famous in the whole world and deservedly but, the price that all of you pay, is not just the one that they ask at the wine-tastings or wine-shops.
There is something much more expensive that is paid there, even if not with money!!!
The Historical Paradise
The first vineyards were planted around the middle of the 1800s.
But, the locations and the soil drainage, even if it was perfect to do that, wasn't already like what it is today.
Before, it was a marvelous paradise full of:
- Magnificent trees such as oaks, pines and other species
- Flowers absolutely native to California valleys
- Deer, foxes, even bears
- Birds and squirrels
- An endless number of other native animals
All these creatures found their perfect habitat here for millions of years!!!
The Destruction
So, what did they do to create the vineyards??
Very simple!!!
They destroyed the paradise by cutting all the trees and, just to be sure, they also took away the roots!!!
The Present Reality
Now, instead of that natural paradise, there is an immense landscape of rows of grapes to the horizon and, who cares about the oaks and the creatures that were living there? They went away and found another home or died, exactly like it was done with the NATIVE AMERICANS that lived there for more than 15 THOUSAND YEARS.
Go where??? No one asked them and no one cared, so no answer from them and all was resolved!!!
A Question of Priorities
How was this possible only a little more than 150 years ago?
Please consider that, in the rest of the Country, National Parks were created officially:
- Yellowstone in 1870
- Sequoia Park in 1890
- Yosemite in 1890
But the territory was already preserved from much more time before, just waiting to make it official!!!
Here, no one ever thought to preserve these two valleys, masterpieces made by Mother Nature.
How was the land available and consequently purchased? How were there no regulations to preserve nature for future generations???
Only making money prevailed and forget the... paradise!!!
The Visual Evidence
Here are a few pictures of what it was:
...and what it is now!!!!
The Ongoing Impact
I'd like to also clarify that it isn't the DEER that cross the freeways and often DIE!!!! It is the freeways that cross their paths making it impossible to go down to the bay!!! The deer walked down on these paths, coming from the hills, for the last few MILLIONS OF YEARS and, it's not easy to suddenly change that normal and ancestral habit!!!!
Also, the builders of the freeways, and the Politicians in charge, didn't even have the good sense to make underpasses for the animals as was done in other places in the US, surely more civilized than California!!!!
The Hidden Cost
So, the next time you buy a bottle of wine from Napa or Sonoma Valleys, remember the apparently invisible price that you pay not with money!!!
Thank you for reading!
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