Celebrated California winery destroyed as fast-moving fires ravage wine country

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — Napa Valley’s Glass Fire tore through wine country late Sunday into early Monday, reducing at least one storied winery to charred rubble, damaging another and threatening what remains of the tourist destination.

The blaze, which began as a relatively small 20-acre vegetation fire, overtook the region Sunday night, scorching at least 11,000 acres and, with them, the iconic Chateau Boswell Winery, KPIX reported.

The 41-year-old family-owned winery is located along the popular Silverado Trail, an area that came under mandatory evacuation orders on Sunday as the Glass Fire exploded, CNN reported.

Another popular tourist destination, the Black Rock Inn, was also destroyed in the fire, former owner Jeff Orlik confirmed to the network. The property had not been open to lodgers since Orlik sold it to new owners two years ago.

According to the Napa County Office of Emergency Services, 64 wineries sit within the evacuation or evacuation warning areas, The Mercury News reported.

Meanwhile, Jim Sullivan, vice president of marketing and public relations for the winery at Castello di Amorosa, confirmed to The Mercury News that the blaze destroyed the site’s farmhouse building but said the Tuscan-style castle and winery built by vintner Darryl Sattui about 200 yards away did not sustain any damage.

The farmhouse, Sullivan said, had been used as a production facility, so the loss includes Castello bottling operations, fermentation tanks, a laboratory and bottles of wine, the newspaper reported.

Read more here and here.

0 of 25

Cox Media Group