In 2017, California – the very heart of North America’s surprisingly substantial wine industry – was devastated when unprecedented wildfires raged across the state. Ultimately, more than half a million acres of fields were reduced to blackened stubble, while clouds of toxic smoke were sent billowing across neighbouring regions.
After a determined stand-off, which claimed the lives of 45 local landowners and two members of the county fire service, the final embers were extinguished in October that year, but not before more than US$18 billion worth of damage had been done to some of the finest terroir in the whole of the United States. Among the key production areas affected were two with enviable international reputations in the world of viticulture – Napa Valley and the neighbouring Sonoma Valley.
And, for many of Californian winemakers, the fires couldn’t have come at a worse time. After generations lost in the long shadows cast by such Old World favourites as Bordeaux and Burgundy, their New World counterparts had finally been on the cusp of global conquest. It was an irony not lost on many of the leading wine scribes.
Lamenting the destruction of so many fine vineyards, Geoff Kruth, the President of the Guild of Sommeliers, a US-based network of wine professionals, said: “The great thing about the current generation of Californian wine was its diversity – it provided great examples of almost every conceivable variety.”
A still more tangible endorsement comes courtesy of Robert Parker, publisher and editor of Wine Advocate magazine, and The Guy for all wine-related matters. Of the 525 wines that have secured 100-point approval from Parker over the last 40 years, a significant majority of around 180 were awarded to Californian winemakers. By comparison, the Rhone region notched up 130 and Bordeaux just 105.
It seems as though Asia’s growing number of oenophiles are particularly partial to West Coast wineries. Overall, Hong Kong is the third-largest importer of Californian wines (with a import value US$119 million in 2017), followed by Japan (US$94 million) and China (US$79 million) in fourth and fifth positions respectively.
For these 5,000km-distant aficionados, the continued supply of their favourite Californian Chardonnay or much-loved Pinot Noir – North American-style – is currently a little imperilled. Indeed, in several instances, irrevocable damage has been caused to many of the local vineyards. In the case of White Rock Vineyard, founded in 1870 and one of Napa Valley’s oldest wineries, for instance, it was wholly razed to the ground, while one fifth of its total back catalogue was also completely erased.
Elsewhere in the same region, VinRoc and Signorelli – two of the smaller, family-owned Californian winemakers – were pretty much wiped off the face of the earth. Over in the neighbouring Sonoma Valley, both Paradise Ridge and Peacelands saw decades of specially-nurtured terroir destroyed overnight.
In addition to the immediately-apparent desolation, some of the legacy of the 2017 blazes did not become apparent until the following season. This saw a number of apparently-healthy vines yielding grapes that were far inferior to the norm or simply providing no fruit at all. As yet, the severity of this particularly unwelcome consequence has yet to be determined, with many winemakers keeping quiet as to the extent of the problem they are actually facing.
For now, at least, many of the affected Californian winemakers in Napa and Sonoma – the regions regarded by many as the New World counterparts to Bordeaux and Burgundy – are putting on a brave face, publicly still predicting fine things for the 2017 vintage. Privately, though, many are wondering when – if ever– the region will fully recover, especially with the spectre of returning wildfires a very real possibility in this most climatically-compromised of regions.
Text: Tenzing Thondup