On Sunday, August 24th at 3:20 AM, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the northern San Francisco Bay area, and the hardest-hit city was Napa, about 6 miles northwest of the quake’s epicenter in American Canyon. The quake, the largest in the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, was felt as far away as Chico and Fresno, the USGS said. In Napa, 172 people were wounded and numerous significant historic stone buildings were damaged, with at least 116 buildings being red-tagged, resulting in an estimate of over $500 million dollars in damage. And, of course, how did this affect the region’s wineries, and how will it affect future prices and availability of Napa wine?
To find out more, David talks with Nancy Light, VP of Communications for the Wine Institute and Patsy McGaughy, Communications Director of Napa Valley Vintners to get their views on how this earthquake has affected wineries and the possible business implications resulting from the damage. Then, David finishes up with a riveting first-hand account of the quake from our cub reporter Tom Silberkleit, publisher of The California Directory of Fine Wineries, who has gotten many direct reports of damage (or not) from wineries in the area.
Next week, our regulars Sara Schneider, wine editor of Sunset Magazine, and Wilfred Wong of Wine.com, will return and everything will get back to normal. Until the next earthquake, that is.
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