Quake leaves vintners awash in ruined wines
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 23, 2003
PASO ROBLES, Calif. — The earthquake that rumbled through California’s central coast struck hard at the region’s burgeoning wine industry, toppling barrels, spilling cases and leaving some wineries awash in rivers of merlot and cabernet.
The area roughly midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco has become one of California’s most productive wine-producing regions, with more than 80 wineries ringing Paso Robles, the small town hit hardest in Monday’s magnitude-6.5 earthquake.
The quake created a mess for dozens of those wineries, with owners left to mop up their tasting rooms and cellars.
Many said it would take them years to recover, particularly because the quake struck when most of this year’s vintage was stored in unstable barrels, instead of in mounted fermentation tanks or bottles.
At the Dover Canyon winery, 100 wooden barrels stacked in a pyramid collapsed in a heap, breaking open a half-dozen casks and crushing dozens of cases of bottled wine, some of premium vintage.
"We walked in here and it was ankle-deep, with wine flowing out the door into the rocks and garden area," said co-owner Mary Baker. "It was pretty distressing. We can absorb a certain amount of loss, but it’s going to be hard because we’re a boutique winery on a boutique budget."
At Turley Wine Cellars, owner Larry Turley estimated he lost more than $1 million in wine when 700 wooden barrels in his storage cellar toppled like dominos. Among the losses was a barrel of port worth $24,000, he said.
Pasquale Mastantuano, owner of Mastantuano Winery, said it would cost $2,000 a month to buy earthquake insurance with a $100,000 deductible.
He estimated his winery sustained $90,000 in losses, including 1,200 gallons of wine.
"You just take chances. We’re just farmers, basically, and the farmers take the brunt of everything," Mastantuano said.
Copyright ©2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
