Napa Valley is slowly recovering from a 6.1 earthquake that rattled residents, closed roads, toppled old historic buildings and homes, and destroyed many barrels of wine on August 24. Over the last few days, many of the older structures have been red-tagged and may have to be torn down. It was reported that one winery lost 15,000 cases of wine! Many others, including retail wine shops, also lost wine. Luckily injuries were relatively minimal since the quake struck at 3:20 a.m.
Three days after the quake, I’m hearing “we are open for business!” all around the valley. Some individual wineries may experience inventory shortages due to the quake, but a significant impact on Napa Valley wine is not expected. A number of restaurants and retail establishments in downtown Napa are in the process of cleaning up and waiting to reopen, pending inspection. Many businesses have already reopened, but a few will have to rebuild.
The hardest hit area was within the city of Napa. Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga are all doing quite well. Our advice is to call ahead before making plans – we at Tour Vin are tracking progress each day!
Chris Doran, owner of J Doran Vineyards, sums up the spirit in the valley. “We are no longer looking backwards,” he said. “Now, we move forward. Let’s pull together so we can pull through together!”
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