Fire-proofing California’s wine industry
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2020, Napa Valley experienced its most destructive wildfire ever. Vineyards burned, leaving not only direct damage, but more long lasting impact with wine affected by smoke taint.
We hear how the perennial presence of wildfires means local businesses face a harsh reality of living with the risk of fire. Sophie Long visits wine makers who are using inflammable materials to build new wineries, changing growing techniques and using technology to deal with tainted wine.
And she meets local residents learning firefighting techniques - all to keep smoke out of your wine glass and the billion dollar industry thriving.
Presenter: Sophie Long Producer: Samantha Granville
(Image: Burned grapes hang on a damaged vine at a vineyard as the Glass fire continues to burn in Calistoga, California on October 1, 2020. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From global current affairs to art, science and culture. |
| 0:05.1 | The documentary from the BBC World Service tells the world's stories. |
| 0:10.6 | Search for the documentary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 0:18.6 | The unprecedented fires of 2020 that reduced wineries to rubble left few in doubt that the |
| 0:25.7 | Californian wine industry has entered a new dangerous era. |
| 0:29.5 | I was able to see the destruction. There was still fire everywhere. Trees were down, trees |
| 0:35.3 | were still burning. I felt very helpless. |
| 0:40.3 | The fires that swept through Napa in late summer had a devastating impact. |
| 0:45.5 | We managed to harvest about a third of our crop before the smoke began. And then it kind of |
| 0:51.4 | wafted into the vineyard. And so in effect, we lost two-thirds of our crock. |
| 0:56.9 | While some winemakers refused to give up the fight, others knew they couldn't make wine worthy |
| 1:02.5 | of their world-class reputation. We knew that the wine won't be what is supposed to be for |
| 1:07.7 | ram-sitters. So it's a hard decision, but on the moment, it's like, yeah, no, we don't do wine like this. |
| 1:13.6 | I'm Sophie Long, and I've come to Napa Valley to find out how wildfires are affecting the |
| 1:18.0 | Californian wine industry and what's being done to save it. |
| 1:26.9 | Italian 14-04 engine 1498, engine 5531, engine 26, engine 17. |
| 1:32.4 | In 2020, the first fire came in August. |
| 1:35.6 | It consumed hundreds of thousands of acres and killed five people. |
| 1:40.0 | 1671, keep driving as fast as your can. |
| 1:43.4 | Come on. |
| 1:43.7 | Then in late September, another blaze erupted, which tore through vineyards and turned the sky orange. |
| 1:51.3 | It was the most destructive fire ever to hit Napa Valley. |
... |
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