Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain, ravaged by Glass Fire, says it will rise from the ashes
Glass Fire: 8 more Napa Valley wineries damaged or destroyed by worst fire in region’s history
By Jessica Yadegaran and Linda Zavoral, Mercury News
Published: October 5, 2020 | Updated: October 7, 2020
As of Monday, the Glass Fire, now recognized as the most destructive fire to ever hit the world-famous Napa Valley region, has destroyed or damaged structures at 21 wineries in the valley, including Spring Mountain, the small, elevated western AVA that had evaded wildfires up until this season.
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Napa’s Spring Mountain avoided fires for years. Now the hill’s boutique wineries face total destruction
By Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, October 1, 2020
Few areas of Napa Valley have evaded wildfire over the past few years, but Spring Mountain had been lucky.
Unlike regions including Mount Veeder, Coombsville, Atlas Peak and Pope Valley, this vineyard-dotted mountain above St. Helena in Napa’s western flanks had been untouched by the Wine Country fires of 2017 and again during August’s LNU Lightning Complex. But this week, as the Glass Fire has swept across the region, Spring Mountain became Napa’s latest battleground. By Thursday, at least four Spring Mountain wineries had burned nearly completely, devastating structures including an 1871 barn and a new, state-of-the-art Japanese-style pagoda, with damage registered on at least three other wine properties. And with winds forecasted to pick up, the fire was far from over.
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California Fires Take a Deep Toll on Wine Country
By Eric Asimov, NY Times, October 5, 2020
Beyond the financial cost of the destruction in Napa Valley is the emotional price, as wine that’s been nurtured from vineyard to barrel flows down the drain.
The 2020 vintage was already difficult in Napa Valley. It was born in a drought, matured through terrible heat spikes and had endured smoky conditions from the haze of numerous Northern California fires.
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Glass Fire has now damaged 17 Napa Valley wineries as world-famous region remains under grave threat
By Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, October 4, 2020
One week after the Glass Fire began its violent path through northern Napa Valley, one thing is certain. This is the most destructive fire America’s most famous wine region has ever faced.
The Glass Fire has damaged or destroyed structures on at least 17 Napa wine estates, a significantly higher figure than in 2017, when the Wine Country Fires affected six of the county’s wineries. By the weekend, with the fires still burning on both the eastern and western sides of the valley and the winds expected to rise, the danger was hardly over. Many vintners continued to fight the fire at their own properties, sometimes without firefighting aid. In some cases, they extinguished the flames, only to find the fire roaring back the next day.
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