Wildfires Hit California Wine Country

The Associated Press (AP) reports more than a dozen wildfires ripped through Sonoma and Napa Counties, destroying at least two wineries and damaging many others.

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While vineyards are wrapping up winegrape harvest, the conclusion to the season has been put on hold in the northern part of the state.

The AP reports Signorello Estate winery in Napa and Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa were destroyed.

“Pretty much the entire eastern mountain range from Santa Rosa to Glen Ellen looked like it was burning,” Eppie Ordaz of Ordaz Family Wines, based in Kenwood, CA, told The San Francisco Chronicle.

The Chronicle reports White Rock Vineyards, which was established in 1870 in Soda Canyon, also burned to the ground. The Chronicle says vineyard historians fear historic vines from the 19th century are destroyed.

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“Unbelievable. It looks like a war zone,” Jim Regusci, the third-generation owner of Regusci Vineyards, told the Chronicle.

Beyond the vineyards, other growing operations and farms have been dealing with the fires. Several vegetable growing operations lie to the Eastern side of the fires. Livestock and cannabis operations are also threatened.

On Monday, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, and Orange counties.

 

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