California wildfires reduce beloved Napa Valley wine and tourist spots to ashes and scorched earth
- The California wildfires are still raging, and wineries, restaurants and other attractions have been destroyed
- The Silverado Trail in Napa Valley and the town of Calistoga, both destinations for wine lovers, have suffered badly
The Silverado Trail has long been a place of dreams for Napa Valley wine lovers as it winds gently through vineyards and on to Calistoga.
California’s Glass Fire, which erupted on the morning of September 27 in the hills above Napa Valley, has turned much of that dream to ashes, destroying a three-star restaurant at Meadowood resort, torching wineries such as Chateau Boswell and tainting precious grapes with smoke.
The US West Coast is experiencing a record-breaking fire season, exacerbated by climate breakdown, with five of the state’s six biggest blazes in history currently burning, and nearly four million acres scorched. California has recorded the deaths of at least 29 people and the destruction of more than 7,000 structures.
At least a dozen Napa wineries and vineyards have been affected by the Glass Fire, with the scorched area now spanning almost 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares).
On Wednesday, at the Trailside Inn Bed and Breakfast, the skeletal remains of a bus converted into a camper van sat in a smouldering patch near a vintage Packard car with paint melted off the bonnet. Smoke rose along the road and on hillsides, where crews of firefighters could be seen attacking pockets of flame with picks, shovels and hosepipes.