Napa is known for their cabernets. How can the wine industry engage in business continuity when natural disasters are their issue? Business continuity for an entire industry takes massive preparation and coming to Jesus about the future.
It's amazing what climate change is doing to Napa. Cabs thrive in cool environments. Climate change is shifting temperatures. Those paying attention are changing the harvest times. Those paying even more attention, knowing they can only shift harvest so much, are getting ideas for a different type of grape to be grown there, more in line with the new climate coming.
The wine industry has seemingly very little control over how to stay in business. That's only for small thinkers. Aside from the cosmic shift in grape varietals or harvesting times, some are making different products or taking preparations to the next level.
Wildfires impart smoke in the grape skin...which means it winds up altering the taste of the final product. I've had a smoke-altered malbec and enjoyed it, but those spending $200 on a bottle of cab are not as amenable as me and my $50 malbec. So what are they doing with the product? Making vodka. Making brandy instead. Some have tried to figure out a way to tame the smokiness with yeasts, temperature changes in fermentation or adding tannins.
One vineyard owner, a victim of the 2020 wildfire season, became a volunteer firefighter and made physical changes to his vineyard to make it easier for firefighters to get access to his property.
Prepare for now. Prepare for the future. Prepare for the distant future if it's an entire industry...
Secure. Survive. Thrive.
