Posted on 10/14/2005 4:45:52 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NAPA, Calif. (AP) - California wine country was reeling after a huge warehouse fire wiped out millions worth of rare vintages.
No one was seriously injured in the fire, the cause of which was still under investigation, and the losses weren't expected to put a big dent in the state's multibillion-dollar wine industry.
But for some, the potential loss of years of effort and hope spelled big trouble.
"It is a terrible thing," said Gary Lipp, who suspects that most of his 2003 cabernet sauvignon and all of his 2004 pinot noir are gone.
Lipp and Brooks Painter, both wine industry veterans, started the small Coho Wines brand three years ago and had been getting good reviews.
They still have some wine stored in another warehouse and some in barrels. But the new wine will have to be aged at least 18 months before it can be sold, meaning stalled momentum during the crucial holiday period.
"We'll send letters to our customers telling them we look forward to seeing them again in the spring of 2007," said Lipp with resigned good humor. He's hopeful he'll be able to keep the brand going although he predicts a tough couple of years.
The same dilemma was facing Julie Johnson of the Tres Sabores winery in St. Helena, a premium producer of cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel.
Johnson, who's been building up the brand for seven years, stored half of her 2002 vintage and all of her 2003 in the warehouse. That includes most of her cabernet sauvignon, savored by fans for its fruit-forward flavor underpinned with the tannic spice known as "Rutherford dust," from the area's famous growing soils.
"I'm really hoping that it's just water damage," Johnson said. "I buy the best corks in the business just for such an eventuality. If it's just label damage, then I'll have a huge party and everyone can come and relabel."
The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in the warehouse, which is on the old Navy shipyard of Mare Island in Vallejo, just south of the Napa Valley and about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Warehouse general manager Debbie Polverino was there when alarms started going off. "I turned around and saw this huge wall of orange," she said as she sat outside the warehouse Thursday afternoon, her jeans blackened with soot.
Structural damage from the fire, which took about eight hours to control, was estimated at $10 million, said Vallejo fire department spokesman Bill Tweedy. Losses to the contents of the building were unknown, although Polverino estimated it could be in the tens of millions.
Wine doesn't have a high enough alcohol content to burn, said Tweedy, but the bottles are packaged in cardboard boxes and wooden shelving that fed the flames.
Wines stored in the building ranged from huge chunks of smaller wineries' inventories to "library" collections of rare vintages. Even if bottles are intact, it's feared high temperatures will have spoiled the wine.
Agents with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau will eventually determine if the wine is ruined, Tweedy said.
The fire is being regarded as suspicious partly because the building appeared to be fire-resistant, a dense, concrete structure once used to repair submarines.
About 70 wineries leased space in the building, which also stored sugar and other food products.
A team from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives planned to begin investigating Saturday. That effort was expected to last until early next week, after which people would be allowed in to inspect property damage, Tweedy said.
While she waited, Johnson was busy with this year's harvest, in full swing right now.
"If it turns out that I've lost my 2003 vintage and part of my 2002 so be it," she said in a message to friends and customers. "There are some really lovely 2004 wines ready and waiting to be sprung from their barrels in the cave."
Calls and e-mails of support and sympathy were pouring in and Johnson was hopeful.
"You just have to keep the perspective," she said, "and you have to keep going."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/14/BAGCCF83Q91.DTL&hw=wine&sn=001&sc=1000
oops, sorry
Well, if the prices go up too much, I guess people will lower themselves back down to buying French wine.
Yep, and I think it was titled something like "any ole port in the storm." I really liked the actor who played the vineyard owner.
The building had 2 main bays, separated by a large concrete firewall. Bays are large enough to fit a submarine into them.
The report indicates it was the inner bay or center of roof that had the fire. It had a hot mopped roof if my memory serves me properly.
The eastern bay, did have some fire sprinkler systems installed in some interior offices and restrooms. We had to core through the thick exterior bldg walls to install water mains about 15 years ago.
Building still housed some towed phase array sensors a couple of decades ago. I never knew it held components of BigBoy. /tin foil hat on ... maybe the Philadelphia Experiment hopped through time but didn't anticipate Mare Island being closed. That building had some micks and corners rarely if ever occupied. An ideal spot for time travel. Can't say more or the Men in Black will get too curious. /tin foil hat off
I'm a bit surprised it wasn't sprinkled. When Vellejo took it over, they must have relaxed zoning requirements to get cash flow running. I would think it would have been mandatory to sprinkle and detect anytime the building use was changed, especially to housing that type of hazmat via local/city building inspectors.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/16/BAGORF966D1.DTL
Embezzlement suspect eyed.
Switch to beer!
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