Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/718029
18 WINES&VINES September 2016 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS S an Rafael, Calif.—Since destroying one vineyard in Monterey County, the So- beranes Fire has continued to blaze uncontrolled since late July. The fire had scorched more than 74,000 acres as of press time, when Cal Fire reported it was only 60% contained. The fire is in an especially rug- ged part of Monterey County near Big Sur, making it difficult to con- tain but also keeping the fire and smoke away from the majority of the county's vineyards. That was not the case for a small vineyard owned by Leona Carey, proprietor of Big Sur Vine- yard, which was destroyed July 25. The fire also has destroyed 57 homes, caused three injuries and claimed the life of a bulldozer op- erator helping to control the fire. Cal Fire has tracked the cause back to an illegal campfire. According to the Wines Vines Analytics winery database, Mon- terey County is home to 78 winer- ies, and 19 of those have a zip code of 93924, which would put them in or near Carmel Valley, the appellation closest to the fire. Dean De Korth is the wine- maker and director of production for Bernardus Vineyards & Winery, which produces around 50,000 cases per year and owns 200 vine- yard acres. He told Wines & Vines in an Aug. 10 email that he's sending grape samples for lab analysis and will test them again closer to har- vest. "There has been significant smoke here, but some days are worse than others. At times the air seems clear and relatively smoke- free, but other times it's very smoky, so we will see what the status is," he said. After recently touring the win- ery's other grape sources in the Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands appellations, however, De Korth is "very optimistic re- garding quality for 2016. They have had very minimal smoke exposure." Jack Galante is the president of Galante Family Winery, which produces about 5,000 cases per year and has 40 acres of vineyards in the Carmel Valley. Galante grows mainly Bordeaux varieties and is most concerned about the thinner skinned grapes. "We have had persistent smoke in our region for several weeks, although it is dissipating now.…There is likely some smoke taint, especially with our thinner skinned varietals, but as of yet we don't know if it will be within manageable limits," he said in an email. The Monterey County Vintners & Growers released a statement saying that the county's regular and strong winds that have blocked the smoke from heading inland to the larger appellations. —Andrew Adams Fires Still a Concern in Carmel Valley, Other Regions Spared The Soberanes Fire in Monterey County, Calif., had scorched nearly 75,000 acres as of mid-August. CAL FIRE