KELSEYVILLE >> Many in the Lake County wine industry have been impacted by the Valley Fire, some both personally and professionally.
Michael and Adawn Wood of Shed Horn Cellars lost their home and winery in the fire. In a statement from the Woods, they said, “We are saddened about the loss of our beautiful county and our many friends that have lost their homes. We are blessed with the outpouring of kindness and thoughts of our personal friends and friends in the industry. We do have inventory in the warehouse to keep our orders filled and our tasting room stocked.”
The Shed Horn tasting room is located in downtown Middletown, in an area that was spared when the fire whipped through town.
“While we don’t yet know the extent of vineyard and winery damage, for some local grape growers, the main impact has been the closure of Highway 29 in the midst of harvest 2015, which has made it challenging both for harvest workers to get to the vineyards to pick the fruit and for trucks to haul the fruit to the winery,” said Debra Sommerfield, president of the Lake County Winegrape Commission
In all of the devastation, there are also bright spots. Historic Langtry Estate Winery located near Middletown is back up and running by generator power. In a statement from Foley Family Wines on Monday afternoon, Andrea Smalling, the company’s chief marketing officer, said “It’s likely that we won’t be able to harvest the remaining grapes due to smoke damage but our winemaker is doing some lab work to confirm. The good news is that it appears that the actual damage to the vineyards may not be as bad as we initially thought — there are areas of green once you get past the most outer vines.”
The estate lost one of the homes on the property, but the historic Lillie Langtry home was saved. The winery’s employees are all safe and accounted for.
The Lake County Winery Association and Lake County Winegrape Commission are working together to respond to this disaster. “We are working side by side in this disaster,” Lake County Winery Association Executive Director Terry Dereniuk said, “The Valley Fire is the sixth fire incident in Lake County since August. Efforts are underway to gauge the extent of industry damage and coordinate efforts to assist the community.”
To find out how you can help, visit www.lakecountywineries.org.
