Napa, Sonoma vintners look to resume harvest while tasting rooms remain closed

After a two-day delay, some local vintners were preparing to harvest their remaining grapes today while fire crews were still battling wildfires that caused destruction and death, as well as gutting a few wineries.

The majority of tasting rooms remained closed as wineries worked with employees displaced by the fires. Tourists also appeared to be staying away because of unhealthy air.

Honig Vineyard & Winery in Rutherford was preparing to pick cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot grapes from two vineyards today, said Michael Honig, president and CEO.

“We are functioning and operating as most wineries in general,” said Honig, chairman of the board for the Napa Valley Vintners trade group. “We want to bring the fruit in.”

Duff Bevill, founder of Bevill Vineyard Management in Healdsburg, said he was planning at least one pick today though he was having a hard time reaching personnel for harvests already delayed since Monday. He planned to provide his crews masks to mitigate the health risk of the smoky air.

Jackson Family Wines of Santa Rosa suspended its picks with the exception of one today in Lake County, an area not affected by the fires. None of its winery properties had suffered damage as of Tuesday.

Jackson has picked about 75 percent of its Northc Coast crop, said spokeswoman Caroline Shaw, adding the decision to suspend harvesting was out of concern for its workers.

The fires erupted at the tail end of grape harvest, already disrupted by a Labor Day heat wave followed by unseasonably cool temperatures bringing the threat of fruit rot.

Workers can make as much as $1,500 a week during harvest, which typically ends by November, Bevill said. Some workers contacted on Facebook by The Press Democrat expressed concern about working in the smoky air, which registered as “unhealthy” Tuesday on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District index.

“Supervisors haven’t told them anything about using masks and if they want them, they need to pay for them out of their own pocket,” said worker Sonia Rosas.

Sofia Ortiz said she and other pickers were receiving masks. “They have told us that whoever wants to work can do it if the conditions are right and who doesn’t want to work can stay home.”

The blazes have destroyed a few wineries, notably Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa and Signorello Estate Winery along the Silverado Trail in Napa County. Cal Fire said there was “extensive damage” to vineyards in the Atlas Peak region in Napa County.

Cal Fire crews were able to prevent significant damage to the Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma from the Nunns fire, stopping the blaze Tuesday near the winery’s property line, though some blocks of vineyards were burned, said Katie Bundschu, vice president of marketing and sales.