California's Multi-Billion Dollar Wine Industry Assesses Losses After 6.0 Earthquake

Wineries in the idyllic Sonoma Valley have been coping with a record-setting drought for nearly a year. And the lack of rain, searing hot temperatures and lowering water tables have put immense pressure on vintners' bottom line. Early Sunday morning, California's wine industry took another huge blow. This time the destruction came from below ground. A 6.0 earthquake, centered about five miles south-southwest of Napa, Calif. gave area residents an abrupt 3:20 a.m. wake-up call as long, rolling seismic waves undulated under their homes and businesses. The shallow quake, located about six miles below the surface, is the strongest to strike the Bay Area in nearly 25 years. It's a far cry from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake; which killed 63 people, injured more than 3,700 and left thousands of buildings uninhabitable. By contrast, Saturday's quake caused more than 200 injuries — including a child last listed in critical condition at a San Francisco hospital — and left dozens of buildings unsafe for habitation. In the immediate aftermath of the tremblor, as many as 70,000 PG&E customers lost power. As of Monday morning, only 150 customers had yet to be restored. Dozens of water mains were ruptured as well, causing headaches for first responders trying to fight structure fires caused by the earthquake. As of early Monday, only eight water mains had been repaired. The economic toll on the region is also likely to be very high, since the massive California wine industry was so hard hit. Broken Bottles and Shattered Expectations According to discovercaliforniawines.com, the California wine industry has a $61.5 billion annual economic impact in the state, employing nearly 330,000 people and generating a total of $14.7 billion in state and federal tax revenue.   / 503514636290105344   But the adverse impact of the earthquake, coupled with the on-going historic drought, is likely to hamper the industry for sometime to come. Images from Napa, Sonoma and the surrounding areas show thousands of smashed wine bottles and toppled aging barrels, likely ruining millions of dollars in vineyards' vintages. David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) told the Wall Street Journal that economic losses in the region could easily top $100 million. Some estimates have the damage near $1 billion. Other local businesses, like wine bars and restaurants, are reporting big losses as well. Reuters talked to Tyler Paradise, the genenral manager of the Cult 21 wine bar in Napa, and he says at least $50,000 dollars worth of his inventory is ruined. If there is the smallest of silver linings for beleaguered wine makers, it's this: This year's harvest had only just begun. And even though crop yields are expected to be a fraction of normal — some wineries are forecasting only 20% of normal — had this year's vintages been lost, it could have been catastrophic for winemakers. But, for now, it appears the 2014 harvest and crush are safe. The Quake's Cause The San Andreas Fault is a well-known boundary of the North American and Pacific tectonic plates. It's caused numerous high-profile and exceedingly damaging earthquakes, like the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. But, it wasn't directly involved in Sunday's shaking of the Bay Area. The likely culprit, according to SF Gate, was "...the Browns Valley section of the West Napa Fault, about 3 miles northwest of American Canyon." Some questions remain if that's the exact location of the tremblor, since there a number of other, smaller faults that run close to the West Napa Fault. That said, scientists say aftershocks and addition analysis will help to better pinpoint the location of the original event. USGS seismologist David Oppenheimer told WeatherNation that a team of scientists are in the field looking at physical evidence in an attempt to better locate the offending fault. That said, current evidence suggest the quake originated from the West Napa Fault. The Napa West Fault — much like it's cousin, the well-known San Andreas — is a "slip-strike fault." That's where two land masses laterally grind against one another in opposite directions. That opposite movement causes energy to build in the earth and at some point the fault ruptures, releasing that stored energy in the form of seismic waves. Since most of the faults in northern California are shallow, the released seismic waves are much more destructive than deep-fault earthquakes of the same magnitude.