Most area wineries spared fire damage

By: Kathryn Gillick - For the North County Times | Saturday, October 27, 2007 12:49 PM PDT ∞

Wineries in North San Diego and Southwest Riverside counties survived the fires with minimal damage, according to preliminary reports. Only one, Orfila Winery in Escondido, suffered direct material fire damage, while others reported only economic loss from having to shut their doors.

At Orfila, fire burned about 200 of its 25,000 grapevines early Tuesday morning, according to Leon Santoro, the winery's general manager and winemaker. "I've been joking that we're 99 percent fine," he said.

Santoro was at the winery when the damage occurred, but he did not see the vines burn.

He arrived at the winery at about 3:45 a.m., he said, to retrieve the company's file server, computers, phone systems and important files. As he watched the fire skirt the south side of the winery, flames burned the vines on the east side.

The fire was so hot that it turned the 8-inch-square, 8-foot-tall end posts on that row of vines into a melted pile of rubbish. "It was kind of eerie," he said.

Santoro said he will not know if the wines survived the fire until spring. If they do not come back in the spring, the winery plans to replant those vines, and the new plants would not be productive for three years. He estimates that if the vines do not come back, the company will lose about $60,000 on the loss of production and replanting.

A few signs, canopies and trees on the winery burned as well.

"For me, personally, it was an event," he said. "But we have been very lucky."

An overall view of damage to San Diego County wineries was unavailable Friday as repeated attempts to contact Alex McGeary, owner of Shadow Mountain Winery and president of the San Diego Vintner's Association, were unsuccessfully due to fire damage to telephone lines.

At Witch Creek Winery in Carlsbad, winemaker Dave Wodehouse said that so far it had suffered no damage other than being forced to close its tasting room in Julian. He said he could not estimate how much money the winery has lost in the ordeal until it reopens. "It's probably a few thousand right now," he said, "but it could be a lot more."

Although attempts to reach Bernardo Winery in Poway were unsuccessful, an e-mail from the company said initial reports of damage were untrue.

It said that while the winery does not have power, it suffered no material fire damage. The winery has rescheduled its 30th annual arts and crafts fair, originally planned for this weekend, for Dec. 1 and 2.

Tomi Arbogast, executive director of the Temecula Valley Winegrower's Association, said no wineries in Temecula were damaged, and all were able to remain open throughout the week.

In Fallbrook, Ira Gourvitz from Fallbrook Winery said that he was evacuated Monday, but the winery suffered no damage and reopened Friday. "We had fire burn all around us, but we weren't touched," he said. "We were really lucky."