Andy Beckstoffer Donates Portions of To Kalon Vineyard

North Coast über-grower Andy Beckstoffer announced on August 22 that he has donated 89 acres of his portion of the famed To Kalon Vineyard to The Land Trust of Napa County, making Beckstoffer the first-known vintner to donate a vineyard to a nonprofit land trust under new legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush earlier this month.

The new law is a provision that greatly expands tax deductions for landowners who donate their land for conservation purposes, making such donations financially attractive. It is federal in scope, and applies to any land holding that is considered developable.

“Now, To Kalon will never be developed,” Beckstoffer said. “Not a winery, not a tasting room, no building for perpetuity. What [To Kalon founder] Hamilton Crabb started in 1868, we will continue.”

Beckstoffer said with U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson (D-California), who represents Napa, Lake and Sonoma counties in the House of Representatives, was instrumental in getting the Congressional Wine Caucus to push through the legislation. 

As president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, Beckstoffer says he’s getting word of the new law out to vineyard owners throughout California. “And if they don’t hear it from us, their appraiser, lawyers or financial advisors will tell them,” says Beckstoffer.

“This will preserve thousands of acres of vineyard land in California from ever being developed,” predicted Beckstoffer, who owns three thousand acres of vineyards in the North Coast in addition to To Kalon. 

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