Smoke from wildfires hangs over vineyards in California’s Sonoma Valley on October 10 2017. Picture: REUTERS
Bradley Brown, owner and winemaker at Big Basin Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, thought the redwood forest to the west of his house and winery would act as a firebreak. He lost his house, but his winery survived. “If the smoke ruins my grapes,” he says, “this would mean huge, irrecoverable loss, yet another strain on our already pandemic-affected business.”
In Napa, the fires are burning on the eastern side of the valley, in the Vaca Mountains, a range that includes Atlas Peak, Howell Mountain, and prime cabernet territory Pritchard Hill, which is noted for prestigious wineries such as Continuum, Colgin Cellars, and Chappellet. When the air quality index reaches 151 or above, and smoke comes from a wildfire, a state requirement says wineries must provide N95 masks to vineyard workers. “Because of Covid-19 and our past fire experience, we already had a solid supply,” says Jon Ruel, CEO of Trefethen winery in Napa’s Oak Knoll district.
Power outages compound problems in the cellar, where temperature-controlled vats are used for fermentation, and cooling is needed to age barrels of wines in the absence of a deep cave. Larger wineries have generators, but many others — especially small ones — do not. Some wine growers are taking their grapes to someone else’s winery.
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