& Drink
Napa Valley:
Open for business
Napa Valley rises from the ashes of last October’s wildfires to rebuild stronger and better. STORY: MARY ANN DESANTIS
T
he scorched scenes of California’s wine country dominated news programs in October 2017. I was heartbroken to think Napa would never be the same again. How wrong I was. Napa Valley is as vibrant as ever with lush landscapes and welcoming wineries. All the wine regions—not just Napa Valley— need tourists to return and connoisseurs to buy wines for recovery to be complete. “The story is not what we lost, but what we saved,” says Jennifer Gray Thompson, executive director of the Rebuild North Bay Foundation, an organization of business, community, and environmental leaders focused on recovery and rebuilding. “Our spirit is part of this story. We are not a tragedy, but a triumph.” Jennifer was part of a panel that spoke in February at the 2018 Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in Napa Valley. Economists, viticulture experts, and winemakers assessed damage to the industry and reassured writers that Napa, Sonoma, and other nearby counties are rebuilding faster, better, safer, and greener than ever before. Public perception has been the biggest battle since the fires were extinguished. Outside California, many people pictured Napa Valley as a burned-out battleground. The fact is, only 7.2 percent of the total acreage in Napa Valley burned. Out of Napa’s 500 wineries, about 50 reported direct effects from the fires and only 10 wineries reported significant damage, according to figures released by Dr. Robert Eyler, dean and professor of economics at Sonoma State University. “Vineyards turned out to be really great firebreaks,” Jennifer says. “Only one winery was totally destroyed.”
Napa Valley phtos: Mary Ann DeSantis; Culinary Institute of America photo courtesy of Culinary Institute of the Arts
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