Tuesday, October 10th
The lack of real information and hard facts is staggering. Add to that the quantity of misinformation flowing freely, much of it circulated through social media. But even professional news organizations simply get it wrong. I know that in the middle of a disaster facts are hard to come by, as first responders and government officials are too busy to provide much hard information. But the speed with which you can spread bad information on social media these days is crazy.
Image: Arial view of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa showing the complete devastation of this neighborhood. A neighborhood that is mere blocks away from the winery. Source: ABC7 News.
A few examples from the first 24 hours:
1. Nicholson Ranch Winery burned to the ground (San Jose Mercury News). Then I get sent a pic. Nope. It’s still standing. But the historic Stornetta Dairy buildings across the street are gutted.
2. Gundlach Bundschu Winery – same bad rumor. It’s OK, but Jim and Nancy Bundschu did lose their personal residence.
3. Downtown Glen Ellen is rubble. Nope. All standing, but there are many residences close by that burned, especially to the north of town.
And on and on and on. I realize that when I hear something I really need to ask, “Did you see this personally? Do you have a picture?”
Image: The historic Stornetta Dairy ablaze in the early morning hours Monday. Source: SF Gate.
Image: The scene once day broke and we could see the damage. This was taken on Highway 121 at Napa Road. Off on the right is what used to be the Stornetta Dairy. It was completely destroyed. That's the Nicholsen Ranch Winery in the background, vineyard in the foreground.
Even with all the swirling rumors, the first aerial photos are coming in, and the devastation is surreal. We get first reports of families we know who have lost their homes. How could so much damage be inflicted in such a short period of time? How did this start again?
Image: The hills of Sonoma Valley engulfed with flames in Glen Ellen. Image from The News Trend.
Since yesterday, we learned that the winery facility narrowly escaped total incineration. There is no power there, but we have ordered up a generator to be delivered. No power = no winery = no wine. The problem in receiving the generator may be access. Since we make our wine on Coffey Lane just a few blocks from the devastated Coffey Park neighborhood, authorities have restricted access. The authorities are tightly controlling access points since there are folks reported to be missing in the Coffey Park neighborhood. They are sending in forensic teams.
Image: The building circled in red represents our Sojourn Cellars winemaking facility in Santa Rosa in the Coffey Park neighborhood where 400+ houses were destroyed. Scanned from the New York Times newspaper.
First piece of good news – the generator shows up this afternoon. We can get the presses cranked up and get some wine out of tanks and barreled down. If we can get in…
I have all of my Sojourn employees send me an email with their location and status. Everyone is still Ok. For now.
Image: Taken from Highway 12 in Sonoma in Glen Ellen.
Image: Self portrait on Highway 12 in Glen Ellen, the road was closed due to the fires. The smoke was so incredibly dense it was hard to see and breathe.
Image: Nicholson Ranch Winery somehow survives most of the fire, but this building on their property was not as fortunate. When we drove by Tuesday, we were surpised to see the main structure standing, since we'd heard so many reports that it was completely destroyed. Source: SF Gate.