A chronicle of our preposterous journey to grow wine grapes and make wine in the west of Ireland, where the mountains come down to the sea along the Wild Atlantic Way.
Torrential rains and high winds pummeled the west coast from Oregon to central California dumping record rainfall in an 'atmospheric river' causing flooding and massive problems. Sonoma and Santa Rosa counties had more than 7 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Mt. Veeder had a whopping 10 inches of rain in 24 hours - most in #NapaValley according to the official tally. Record rainfall after record drought. Climate change is definitely here. The “bomb cyclone” is a rare meteorological event.
I wonder what effect it will have on the vineyards. At least they had already harvested the grapes.
One good thing, the #DixieFire has been declared 100% contained @ 963,309 acres.
Horrible fires in California have killed people and destroyed structures. At least 19 wineries have been destroyed or damaged by the Glass fire. As the fire made its way across wine country, about 70,000 people were evacuated. Vintners who’d fled the blaze returned to the area to discover in many cases that their life’s work had been destroyed. Here’s the latest on the winery and restaurant burning, businesses damaged or lost in the fire.
In some cases, the vines were charred but the buildings stood. In other cases, the buildings were destroyed with minimal damage to the vineyards. So unpredictable, yet so deja vu. People are leaving California never to return, after several years of repeated hell. Oregon and Washington states are ablaze as well, all this while America's cities are being destroyed by angry mobs.
Bob and Jody Lipkin, owners of Lattitudes & Attitudes sailing magazine, for which we write often, lost everything. They left with their two cats and one van, leaving everything else behind as they evacuated with the fire cresting the hills around their home. Fortunately, they were insured.
Today, our hearts are with the people of California who again are suffering from the effects of wildfires. The Kincaid fire has ravaged at least three wineries, including the historic Soda Rock Winery which has been in place since the 1800s. All that is left is the stone facade of their main building and a steel sculpture of a boar called Lord Snort, a Burning Man artwork. They posted the photo on Facebook as sympathetic messages came from all over the world.
The Jackson Family Winery, Robert Young Estate Winery and Vineyard, Garden Creek Vineyards, The Field Stone Winery and Moville Vineyards reportedly also suffered extensive damage. The Alexander Valley is home to about 5,000 acres of vineyards with 31 wineries and 82 growers. Most vintners completed their grape harvest just last week and were in the critical stages of crush. Wind gusts up to 100 mph were reported but have now calmed somewhat. Firefighters are struggling to contain the fires before strong winds are forecast to return.
A new blaze broke out yesterday near the Getty Centre on the west side of Los Angeles hundreds of kilometres from where crews were fighting the state’s biggest and most destructive fire, the Kincade, north of San Francisco. Nearly 200,000 were evacuated and power was cut to millions to avoid exacerbating the potential for new fires. Some argue the power cuts are making it more difficult to escape and to fight the fires. The power companies are saying they can't survive the liability. What a conundrum. At least no one has died.
PostScript 30-10-19: The National Weather Service issued a new warning today: the Extreme Red Flag Warning, for a high-wind event taking place in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Thursday evening.
This is unprecedented. A massive area has been evacuated and more is under advisory.
But one vineyard is doing something different. They are applying everything they learned during the fires to expand and install sustainable and safe energy systems. Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery, in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma, won an award in January, not for its wines, but for its environmental and economic leadership. The 16-acre property was recently in the news for its microgrid system that held up with remote management during the devastating fires in Northern California. The staff was sent off and managed the entire winery and grid from positions of safety.
First it was the northern wine country; now the Skirball fires are ripping through the outskirts of Los Angeles. Almost 200 homes have been destroyed by the fires which remain out of control. About 200,000 people have been told to evacuate. Loss of power is reported at more than 250,000 homes in Ventura County. The San Diego Freeway was closed. Fueled by hot Santa Ana winds, it is unusual that a wildfire like this has ripped through in December. A state of emergency has been declared yet again.
California’s Wine Country is in a state of emergency as more than a dozen wildfires burn through large swaths of land in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, and Yuba counties. The fires have destroyed at least 3,500 homes, caused at least 30 fatalities, and forced an estimated 25,000+ residents to evacuate, with that number expected to rise. 8000 firefighters are involved in the fight, some from as far away as Australia.
My heart goes out to all the Californians whose lives are completely disrupted by the horrendous fires raging through Napa and Sonoma. Dry conditions and strong winds caused such rapid escalation and devastation. More than 50,000 acres engulfed in Napa. Many injuries, at least ten known dead and the toll is likely to rise.
They said the grape harvest has already been completed for most, but the impact on the wineries and vineyards is inestimable at this time. Growing grapes and making wine is a labor of love. Many livelihoods and lives will have been destroyed by this tragic development.
I have a feeling I'm not going to like being right. A comprehensive study has shown that climate change accelerated by man is responsible for the drought in California and will continue to have significant effects. An article in the New York Times said:
"A report
this week by researchers at the University of California, Davis,
projected that the drought would cost the California economy some $2.7
billion this year. Much of that pain is being felt in the state’s huge
farming industry, which has been forced to idle a half-million acres and
has seen valuable crops like almond trees and grape vines die."
It's not even that the grapes have become raisins, it says the grape vines have died. I've just found a picture and stats on how much impact the drought has had. They are not yet talking about this much but if you dig a little you'll find that it bad and getting worse.
"Dead and dying grape vines in Bakersfield, California, USA. Following an
unprecedented four year long drought, Bakersfield is now the driest
city in the USA. Most of California is in exceptional drought, the
highest level of drought classification. 428,000 acres of agricultural
land have been taken out of production due to lack of water and
thousands of agricultural workers have lost their jobs."
If "wine is sunlight held together by water" as Galileo professed, then California is in deep trouble. They have way too much sunlight and way too little water.
But for many in the regions most affected, including Napa and Sonoma, the situation has been dire and getting worse sparking water wars. In each of the last four years, people thought it was as bad as it could get, but it keeps getting worse. And yet, it's even worse for the nut farmers.
