napa valley wine

", "Gratitude abounds for the anonymous firefighters who saved our home on Bournemouth Road against the toughest odds.

Explore the latest offerings from the vintners of Napa Valley here. Newton Vineyard, an ambitious property owned by luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey that had just completed renovations a few weeks earlier, was in ruins. “There’s so much smoke that there’s no way we can make any wine this year. (Related: Witness California’s record blazes through the eyes of frontline firefighters.). ", "The entire Keenan team would like to thank St. Helena Engine Co #17 who arrived just as two separate fires approached the back of the winery. “The crop’s not OK,” says Hal Barnett, owner of Barnett Family Vineyards, whose property on Napa’s Spring Mountain sustained damage to some buildings. But picking grapes when the air is thick with wildfire smoke can be hazardous to the health of these workers, who already had to reckon with the risk of contracting COVID-19 on the job. The unprecedented fire events of 2020 have left little doubt that California’s wine country has entered a new, dangerous era. Viticulture, a major driver of the local economy, has been decimated by wildfires in recent years.

Harvest can be lucrative: At the season’s peak, some of Napa’s highest-end vineyard management companies pay pickers as much as $45 an hour.

In fact, the need to pick the grapes felt even more urgent for wine quality, to minimize the grapes’ exposure to outdoor smoke. “Smoke-tainted” grapes, blackened casks of wine, charred and broken bottles where once there were picturesque vineyards. “We had large water pumps and 500 feet of fire hose with a nozzle at the end,” Tate said. By Eric Asimov The 2020 vintage … Castello di Amorosa, a popular tourist hub modeled on a medieval Tuscan castle that took 15 years and $40 million to construct, saw one of its main buildings destroyed. October 11, 2020 at 4:56 pm. First, in August, came a lightning siege that sparked fires throughout the state. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/10/wildfires-ravage-napa-valley-will-the-wine-region-survive.html, Aaron Burr had written to his wife Theodosia, Verification of Commercial Agricultural Activity. “Everyone is really rallying around rebuilding soon, so that’s the plan,” Chaney said. To many Americans, Napa IS wine. One of those questions pertains to vineyard workers, a largely Latinx immigrant population that forms the backbone of California’s wine industry. Other winemakers in Napa Valley are facing the same devastation. “A lot of us are still standing and can’t wait to have visitors.” He added that’s the best way now to support the Napa community. Counterprotesters Attack Conservative Demonstrators at San Francisco Free Speech Rally, Update: 2 Dead, 4 Wounded In Friday Night San Jose Restaurant Shooting; Deadly Bay Area Gun Violence Claims 9 Lives Since Wednesday, Teens Admit to Starting Friday Afternoon 4-Alarm Fire on San Bruno Mountain in South San Francisco, In Their Own Words: Memories Linger 31 Years After Loma Prieta Earthquake Rocked The Bay Area, Richmond Child Molester Deandre Austin Killed In Prison; Cellmate Held For Homicide, Deadly Drive-By Shooting in Fairfield Shopping Mall Parking Lot Caught on Camera, Watsonville Man Sought In Murder Of His Wife After Her Body Discovered In Santa Cruz, Richmond Police Investigate Deadly Late Night Shooting, Caught On Camera: Wayward Mountain Lion Wanders Through San Mateo Backyard, 2 Killed, 3 Wounded in Separate San Francisco Friday-Night Shootings, Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. “The Latinx population sustains the local economy here, but there are very clear racialized disparities,” says Gabriel Machabanski, associate director of the Graton Day Labor Center, a community organization supporting immigrants in Sonoma County, to Napa’s west. “All my personal possessions were lost,” says owner Susan Boswell, “but most importantly my family history,” including the first bottles of wine that her late husband had made in 1979. ", "Our hearts are full of support and well wishes received from around the country. “Despite wages being consistent over a few months, if you take the average income over the course of a year for low-wage immigrant workers, most of them are living in poverty.”, (Related: Farmworkers risk coronavirus infection to keep the U.S.

“It was really revealing and concerning to hear that folks were working outside in evacuation zones where the air quality was significantly over 150 [AQI], and people were not getting N95 respirators,” Machabanski says.

Learn About America's Premier Wine Growing Region. Nearly impossible to eradicate, these compounds result in unpleasantly smoky flavors and aromas in the finished wine; the sensation is often described as tasting like an ashtray. "Thank you to the brave men and women who risked their lives to protect and save our homes and businesses. The role of these workers is never more crucial than from August through October, when they pick the grapes that will ultimately become wine.

NVV believes our community and industry should be open and welcoming to people of color, whether working in the industry, visiting Napa Valley or enjoying our wines anywhere. But despite major losses, some Napa Valley winemakers say they hope to attract visitors soon to uphold the region’s reputation for making some of the world’s finest wines. Sonoma County records show that of the 115 agricultural access verifications issued for the Glass Fire, 25 of them were requesting access for crews of 10 or more people. And 31 people have been killed and over 8,454 structures destroyed statewide in the fires.

Wildfires have ravaged Napa Valley.

Many Napa and Sonoma wineries proceeded with the harvest despite the fires. But finding those solutions has not yet proven to be a priority of either local governments or the industry. Less than 24 hours after the Glass Fire exploded, one of Napa Valley’s grandest wineries could be seen engulfed in flames. In late summer, Napa Valley was forced to confront a harsh reality: Harvest season in this world-famous wine region is now also fire season. They say they were lucky to lose only a few small structures to the wildfire, including a shed storing winery equipment inside. Virtual Tastings and Online Events Connect with others online for one of our Napa Valley virtual wine … In California’s celebrated Napa Valley, instead of welcoming visitors to their wineries for the autumn harvest season, winemakers this year are looking at decimated vineyards. If fire is indeed now a permanent fixture of harvest season, solutions—such as mandatory hazard pay—are needed to protect this vulnerable population both physically and financially.

Plan your winery visits with our Napa Valley Winery Touring Map. It imperils the local economies of wine country’s towns, which have grown heavily dependent on tourism—to the tune of $2.23 billion in visitor spending in a typical Napa Valley year. We are forever grateful for everything you have done! That phenomenon, called smoke taint, occurs when wildfire smoke lingers in the air for an extensive period of time, imparting certain compounds into the skins of wine grapes. But most of the Glass Fire’s devastation occurred at small-scale, family-run wine estates—names like Behrens, Sherwin, Hourglass, and Hunnicutt. If Napa is lost, for many people, wine … fed.). “The undergrowth, the native grass, is typically what burns,” says Chris Howell, winemaker at Cain Vineyard.

Filed Under: glass fire, Napa Valley, North Bay Wineries, Wildfires, Wine … Wine regions as disparate as Monterey and Mendocino, Sonoma and Santa Cruz, feared that their crops could be ruined. The Glass Fire is still smoldering, and the extent of smoke damage to Napa fruit—though undoubtedly large—remains unknown. For a county whose grape crop was valued at $1 billion in 2019, there’s a lot to lose. What’s more, the staggering geographic spread of the lightning fires left few wine-producing areas of California untouched. Connect with others online for one of our Napa Valley virtual wine events.

“The firefighters felt like they were responsible they couldn’t save the winery, but I was so moved they have the pride in their country to save our American flag and give it back to us so we can put it up again as a symbol of rebuilding,” Chaney said.

A particular shoutout to the incredible Rutherford Volunteer Fire Department - you all are amazing! (Related: What is the science connecting wildfires to climate change?). ", -Stacey  Pytlewski, Coquerel Family Wine Estates, "We are in such awe of what all of the responders did to keep Bear Canyon and the west side of Rutherford safe. “I had become realistic about it,” said Barnett. But many agricultural workers in wine country are working only five to six months a year, says Machabanski.

If 2020 is a lost Cab vintage in Napa Valley, the implications go beyond the loss of some great wines. Will California’s wine industry survive? And it endangers the viability of the wine itself: By one estimate, complications from fire and smoke may prevent as much as 80 percent of Napa Valley’s 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon grapes being made into wine. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC.

But so far, vintners have had little recourse to prevent those losses. The hand-quarried stone winery of Château Boswell, located on the storied Silverado Trail, was decimated. We are grateful to the courageous, hard working first responders and volunteers that worked to protect our community. On October 1, 2020, the Glass Fire continued to rage through the wine country of California’s Napa and Sonoma counties. The state has reported over 8,2000 wildfires since the beginning of the year. As living plants, vines are standing wells of water and have consistently shown themselves capable of slowing the path of fire, sometimes even saving structures. The most recent wildfire, the Glass Fire, began on September 27th and has damaged at least 26 wine and vineyard properties. Many vintners defied evacuation orders to stay behind and defend their properties by cutting fire lines with chainsaws, stashing propane tanks away from flames and dousing their buildings in water. “But by now, we know that the vines themselves don’t burn.”. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, By viewing our video content, you are accepting the terms of our.

Donate to Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund. While Napa’s landscape is clearly fire-prone, it is also dotted with natural firebreaks: grapevines.

The delay almost guaranteed that the outcome would be useless. ", -Stephanie Jones Bailey, Jones Family Vineyards, "We have been so touched by the outpouring of support that we have received from our Spring Mountain neighbors, vintner community and friends.

On October 6, Napa County had received 536 requests for these verifications, says commissioner Humberto Izquierdo, though he would not say how many of those had been approved. Winery Events Calendar. Despite the extent of the losses, most of the 215 wineries located within Napa Valley’s evacuation zones were still standing by the time the Glass Fire was reaching a stable containment level, one week later—thanks to some unknowable equation of firefighting, vineyards, wind patterns and luck.

By October 7, more than 67,000 acres and more than 630 residences had been lost. Grapevines were blackened, wineries reduced to rubble. (Ultimately, though, admission past an evacuation zone line is at the discretion of local police, not the agricultural commissioner.).

By the time winemakers found out whether grapes had been compromised, they’d be on their way to becoming raisins. “It’s a really difficult situation for us because we sell about 95% of our wine direct to the consumer who comes to the winery,” Sattui said. Napa Valley Family Wineries Enter Peak Tourist Season Beset by Fire Damage, Pandemic.

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