Fierce wildfires in Santa Cruz County on Wednesday called for extensive evacuations, including a cluster of wineries in Santa Cruz, Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond and Pescadero.
Part of the CZU August Lightning Complex’s fires, the Warrenella and Waddell fires started Monday morning and have since injured three firefighters and burned more than 2,600 acres, according to Cal Fire. Warrenella is five percent contained; Waddell, zero percent.
In an email Wednesday, Marcella Thompkins, spokeswoman for Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains, said five wineries in the San Lorenzo Valley, Bonny Doon and Woodside / Skyline AVAs were in or near evacuation zones, including Big Basin Estate Vineyards & Winery, Beauregard Vineyards, McHenry Vineyard, Saison Winery and Pescadero Creek Vineyard.
In an email, Bradley Brown, owner-winemaker of the timber frame Big Basin winery in Boulder Creek, said he evacuated Tuesday and that flames were burning within half a mile of the property.
“I believe because the vineyard offers a lot of defensible space, (Cal Fire) a fire brigade can be stationed there to keep an eye on the fire to the west and hopefully protect our winery and my house,” Brown says.
Brown says fire season in the Santa Cruz Mountains wine region is always a risk, but he thinks the adjacent forest and Big Basin Redwood State Park in the west would help protect his property in the event of a major wildfire, such as all fires. would -insulate he did this summer.
Brown planted vineyards around the house and on one side of the wine cellar. A large transmission line running west of the wine cellar was wiped off all brushes to provide extra fire. “We also cut trees and cut brushes,” he says.
But one of his biggest worries is that he does not have crop insurance. And if the smoke becomes too dense over the vineyard for a long time, its grapes will be ruined because of smoke.
“If the smoke ruined our grapes, this would put even more pressure on our company, which is already facing a pandemic,” he says. ‘It would mean an enormous, irreparable loss, and a whole estate lost vintage. That is our biggest risk right now. ”
The contents of the red-wooded winery – the worst construction for fire risk – include 1,500 cases that Brown and his team bottled yesterday, but would be covered by insurance. “We would lose the 2019 year, but that seems somehow less daunting than the possibility that we should try to set up a winery in another winery with less equipment and tons.”
Check back for updates on Big Basin and the other wineries.
