Napa wildfires threaten vineyards amidst harvest
Fires raging in Oregon and California are threatening homes, vineyards and wineries, with Napa County declaring a state of emergency. With harvest already underway, winemakers are watching nervously for signs of smoke taint and other damage.
In central Oregon, the wildfires have destroyed ten structures, including four homes and forced thousands of residents to evacuate. About 4,000 homes were under various evacuation notices, including 1,000 with immediate orders to leave, according to the state fire marshal’s office and as reported by the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, in Northern California, fires have scorched more than 6,800 acres of Napa County. Officials confirmed on Monday morning that the fires were just 13% contained, prompting Napa County to declare a state of emergency to unlock state and federal resources.
Vineyards at the fire’s edge
The fires through Pope Valley and the eastern hillsides of Calistoga have put several of Napa’s best-known estates at risk. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that vineyards such as Eisele Vineyard Estate, Kelly Fleming Wines, Kenefick Ranch, Venge Vineyards and Phifer Pavitt Family Vineyards all lay within the evacuation zone.
Jayson Woodbridge, proprietor of Hundred Acre Wines, described the inferno as “basically a monster”, recalling scenes of planes dropping retardant and Cal Fire crews battling alongside him to save his home and winery. “They brought in all the artillery,”.
Despite the chaos, some vineyards continued their work. At Venge Vineyards, general manager Jason Williams explained that his team harvested eight tons of Sauvignon Blanc as planned. “I feel like we’re veterans right now… we’re better prepared than we were in ’17 and ’20,” he said, referencing earlier catastrophic fire years.
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Smoke taint fears resurface
Although no major winery damage has yet been confirmed, the risk of smoke taint looms large. According to reports, smoke had not yet settled into the valley floor, which gave winemakers some confidence. “We’re so far out from harvesting Cabernet – still four to six weeks before the grapes will ripen – that I can’t imagine we’ll have issues,” Williams said, adding the caveat, “unless another fire breaks out.”
The comparison with the 2020 fires is unavoidable. Those blazes destroyed more than 1,500 structures and rendered some entire harvests unsaleable. Canard Vineyard, for instance, lost its entire 2020 production when its winemaking facility at Fairwinds Estate burned down, as the Chronicle has previously documented.
A pattern of climate-driven disruption
As the drinks business has reported, wildfires are among the clearest expressions of climate change’s impact on viticulture. Research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution has shown that wildfires have doubled globally over the past two decades, directly linked to warming temperatures.
Cal Fire spokesperson Jason Clay explained that while the 2020 Glass Fire was driven by wind, the current blaze is fuelled by dry vegetation on steep slopes, much of it regrowth since 2020 that has since dried out. “That’s been a driving factor in the afternoons since we’ve seen the fire activity pick up for the last three days,” he said.
Resilience tested once again
The economic and emotional stakes for Napa’s vintners are profound. Hourglass Winery owner Jeff Smith admitted feeling “a little PTSD” as flames threatened again, but added, “We hardened the winery for this kind of thing and this fire is nothing like 2020.”
Woodbridge of Hundred Acre Wines offered a farmer’s stoicism in the face of crisis. “This is agriculture. There’s rain, there’s hail, there’s all these trials and tribulations that are part of the journey… Do I like it? No, but I accept it,” he told the Chronicle.
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