2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020
We continue to work through the insurance claim process, but are turning our focus to remediating critical infrastructure. Thanks to Tom's Well Service and Hammer Electric, one of the two destroyed wells is back up and running. This well can be used for the vineyard and the surviving house. These are photos of the damaged well from the fire before they were fixed. In addition to the well site, there were several areas with above ground manifolds that burned and had to be repaired to get water from the well to the vineyard and the house.
We have decided to purchase fruit from Christie Vineyard in Corralitos. Our 2020 crop was a bumper crop, and it is a very big loss for us. Given we lost the majority of our 2019, and all of our 2018, the loss of the 2020 crop to smoke taint means we are down three vintages. But, we are going to make about 150 cases of this wine, which is well short of what we would have had from the bumper 2020 crop. Amazingly, John Benedetti of Sante Arcangeli Family Wines has agreed to make this wine at his facility. We harvested September 22, 2020!
Henry and Annie have finally had a chance to get to the property and sort through the ashes. The area was on lockdown for quite some time. The work is just beginning.
Harvest 2020: In order to get our crop insurance money, we had to make a small batch of wine from the grapes that had smoke taint. This wine had to be sent to a lab and the results were then submitted to the insurance company. We brought grapes to Henry in Davis, and did an old fashioned grape stomp with the kids. The wine had over 200 PPM of Guaicol, which is the main component of smoke taint. Despite our sadness we tried to make it fun for the kids. Later, we had the crew come and "drop the crop." Since we could not harvest the fruit, we still needed to get it off the vine for the long term health of the plants.
As many of you know, our winery and land have been surrounded by the vast and destructive CZU Lightning Complex Fire. We have been able to do a brief assessment and are sad to share that our winery and cabin have burned down. We have lost our 2018 and most of the 2019 vintages, our library of old wines, and all of our wine making equipment. On the positive side, crews were able to save other structures and our vineyard. We are not sure if they were the brave local brigades and volunteer fire fighters made up of Bonny Doon neighbors or the Cal Fire teams (or a combination of all of them). We are especially grateful as we had just replanted 20% of our vineyard this year. The vineyard sustained some minor damage, and we lost our well systems as well. The 2020 crop is intact, but is likely lost due to smoke damage. The beautiful redwood forest on our land is thought to have been burned as well. We are hoping that the majestic tree line that is pictured on our label will survive. We are heartbroken. This land is special to our family, and we will do our best to rebuild and keep alive the McHenry family tradition of making great Pinot noir. The fire is still burning in Bonny Doon and many homes are still at risk. Our heart goes out to all of our neighbors who have suffered losses. We are grateful to be a part of this extraordinarily compassionate, brave, and resilient community. Thank you for all of your well wishes and support. -Annalisa, Brandon and Henry
2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020