Wines & Vines

October 2014 Bottles and Labels Issue

Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/383377

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 7 of 83

8 W i n e s & V i n e s O C T O B e R 2 0 1 4 T he cover headline of Wines & Vines' September 2010 issue, "Lessons From Chile's Quake," stood over an almost incomprehensible photo of barrel stacks at a Colchagua Valley winery that had collapsed into a giant Jenga puzzle. The article by freelance writer Deborah Grossman, who was in Chile during the magnitude-8.8 earthquake there in early 2010, analyzed the dam- age to Chilean wineries and quoted experts' advice about how wineries in Chile and around the world could avoid much of the damage next time around. The earthquake that rocked south- ern Napa Valley and parts of Sonoma and Solano counties in California on Aug. 24 brought that issue to mind immediately when, within hours, we began seeing photos on Twitter of barrel room catastrophes that looked identical to those in Chile four years ago. Clear parallel The parallel between Chile in 2010 and Napa in 2014 is pretty clear. Chileans were very conscious that they lived on fault lines. For several decades they had been using seismic safety in their new buildings and in- frastructure. But unfortunately for the wine industry of Chile, many of its facilities were not as well pre- pared for the earthquake as were high-rise apartment buildings in the capital city of Santiago. When the Chile quake hit, barrel stacks fell, tanks not bolted to the floor moved, tanks with thin steel walls crumpled, stacked case goods not shrink-wrapped fell apart and the bottles inside broke, winery walls built from brick and adobe crumbled, etc. That 2010 cover story examined what systems, structures and equipment failed at vineyards and wineries in South America so that our readers in North America could get better prepared for the next seismic challenge here. It did happen here Yet when the Napa quake hit, barrel stacks fell, tanks not bolted to the floor moved, tanks with thin steel walls crumpled, stacked case goods not shrink wrapped fell apart (or disintegrated from being doused by fire sprinklers) and the bottles broke, winery walls built from wood cracked and separated, etc. Two news articles starting on page 15 in this issue describe the damage in some detail and report on current cost estimates to repair it. In coming issues, the Practical Winery & Vineyard sec- tion in our pages will carry more in-depth information and advice about seismic safety for wineries. Meanwhile, the message on this page in the September 2010 issue bears repeating: "We all know it's coming. Californians live with the imminent possibility of a major earthquake while we make light of the pe- riodic weak temblors that rattle our stemware. Other parts of North America are potentially at risk, too. Many of us are pre- pared to some degree. But how long has it been, if ever, since you took stock of your vineyard and winery operations and considered how to protect your assets and stay in business during and after a major quake?" After reading the 2010 article by Grossman, "...you'll know several specific weak points that can be cor- rected, some expensive and some not so much. Emergency planning is relatively cheap, for one thing, and creating a plan for your employees' safety, for backup power and alterna- tive communications is the least you should do." human safety, legal liability The 2010 column continued, "Tanks are a special concern. Barrels stacked high with nothing to keep the stacks from swaying are a glaring concern. Correcting these issues is not rocket science but simple engineering. "Other items to weigh carefully are human safety and legal liability. Will your employees, your family and any consumers visiting your facility on the day that your AVA gets an 8.8 shaker be safe? I can't help but picture a wine club event staged in a barrel room, where the lights are low, dozens of people mingle with glasses full of new releases, and towering above the people are, what, five levels of wine barrels weighing 600 pounds each? Is anything in place to keep the barrels from teeter- ing, falling and harming your staff and customers? "I'm sure no one wants to hear that they should spend more time and money on their cellars, but that is what's called for. At the very least owners and managers should review their earth- quake preparedness, run numbers about the cost of upgrades and insurance vs. potential losses of product, equipment and produc- tion time. 'Be prepared' is at least as good a motto for vintners as it is for Boy Scouts." E D I T O R ' S L E T T E R A Second Call for Seismic Safety Napa quake brings home the need to protect employees and assets Is anything in place to keep the barrels from teetering, falling and harming your staff and customers? BILL REITzEL

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Wines & Vines - October 2014 Bottles and Labels Issue