Narrator: Workers at this vineyard in Sonoma County rush
to harvest 10 tons of grapes off the vine late at night.
That's because the second largest fire in California history
was burning just one mile away.
- Oh ----.
That's getting close.
That just came up, huh?
Yeah, that's scary.
This isn't a typical pick,
because the grapes aren't really ripe enough.
Narrator: It's a scene that's unfolding
across California's wine industry.
In recent years, winemakers have been forced
to make a difficult decision —
salvage what they can before smoke ruins their grapes,
or lose the crops and hope insurance will cover the losses.
Since August 15,
over 1.6 million acres in California have burned,
an area about the size of the entire state of Delaware.
Scientists say this year could likely mark
the state's worst ever wildfire season.
It's a devastating sequel to 2019,
when the season's worst fire, Kincade, destroyed
over 100 buildings, including local landmarks
like the Soda Rock winery in Healdsburg.
- Yeah, it's just a larger question of like,
what's going to happen going forward.
This is three out of four years now that we're doing this.
Narrator: And as the fires burn,
there are fears that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
could spread among agricultural workers.
In a normal year, the end of summer would mark
the beginning of harvest in wine country.
Nearly 15 million tourists visit Sonoma
and Napa counties annually, pumping about $4 billion
into wineries, hotels and restaurants.
- Right now is the most critical time
for the industry and our business and our county.
Our county depends on agricultural, specifically grapes,
wine grapes and wine growing,
and so we're unable to do that
or execute that because of weather or whatever it is.
That's going to have a dramatic effect on this community.
Narrator: Ross Reedy has worked in the wine industry
for 12 years as a wine grower and a winemaker.
He's seen how fires have changed the landscape
over the years.
- Ten years ago, I remember walking through a vineyard
and looking at it and say, "Oh yeah, we've got two weeks
until that's ready."
And you can pick based on ripeness
and the physiology of the grape.
Now the past three or four years, it's like,
oh OK, well, fire is still 20 miles out,
the wind's moving the opposite direction.
OK, I got another week, you know.
Narrator: In the vineyards,
the actual threat from fire is low.
In fact, fields like this one are typically
a good fire defense for the buildings they surround.
It's smoke that is the problem.
- The reason for that is something called smoke taint.
So you know, if you have smoke that sits in a vineyard
over a period of time,
it latches onto the skins and the sugar.
It actually creates like very heavy barbecue-ashtray
kind of characteristics in the wines.
Depending on what the winds do and what this fire does,
there's a real big chance that we're not going to be able
to harvest fruit this year, which would be really bad.
Narrator: Some vineyards are just one last crop away
from their business coming to an end.
- First of all, it hurts the grower.
This particular grower has insurance, it'll cover his costs.
So it basically, he doesn't make any money this year,
he limps along.
I mean, if he was in dire straits, could potentially ruin,
kill his business.
Narrator: Hotter, drier conditions are becoming
part of a new normal in California.
Although last year
the Kincade Fire started
because of faulty electrical equipment,
this year's combination of a searing heat wave
and rare summer lightning storms have kicked off
what scientists predict could be a catastrophic fire season.
Winemakers are trying their best to adapt,
but there are many complications.
The power at Emmitt-Scorsone Wines was out for one week.
- We evacuated from here, we got out what we could.
We knew at some point the power would be cut.
The immediate concern is the temperature control
in our cellar.
We had no time at all to plan a full evacuation
of 150 barrels of wine,
so we decided, just —
We had one truckload.
We took our six most expensive barrels in hope for the best.
Narrator: Last year, the 100-year-old Soda Rock winery
was destroyed by the Kincade Fire.
They were able to reopen,
but the future of the business remains uncertain.
- Well, what a weird season, huh?
Narrator: Some vineyards have crop insurance,
but it rarely covers all losses.
That puts growers like Ross in a bind.
Harvest what they can
and risk that the wine made from them
will have an unpleasant smoke flavor,
or let them rot on the vine and file an insurance claim.
And it means asking field workers to brave rough conditions
in the midst of an ongoing pandemic.
A July study revealed that California agricultural workers
are three times more likely to contract the virus
compared to workers in other sectors.
Corazon Healdsburg,
a local nonprofit, has been distributing food
since the pandemic began.
Today, they are doing free COVID testing for the community.
Many here are agricultural workers and families.
- So, for those who work in the vineyards,
many commute together for work,
many live together in the same households
or in communal bunk houses.
If somebody is infected with COVID, that could really
have a huge impact on the whole operation,
and so that's why this testing is so important right now.
OK, so you're just going to wait right here.
We are seeing a disproportionate impact of COVID
on our Latino community.
I think it is exacerbated by the working conditions,
of living conditions of the Latino community here.
Narrator: Despite these challenges,
winemakers are taking steps to protect their workers
and their grapes.
Organizations are providing safety information
on fires and COVID,
and labs are being set up to test for smoke taint in grapes.
But many growers, like Palmer Emmitt
of Emmitt-Scorsone wines,
are optimistic about the industry's future.
- Hopefully this is not going to be an annual occurrence,
but you know, Sonoma County
and the wine industry are very resilient as a whole,
and I think we'll survive and keep chugging.
Narrator: In the wee hours of Sunday morning,
Ross Reedy's crew finished their emergency pick.
- It is now 1:30. We're back at the winery
and just brought all this fruit back.
It's been a pretty wild day.
We got about 10 tons of rosacea zinfandel out of Dry Creek.
And you know, it's not ideal.
We would have loved
to have turned this into a still red wine,
but you got to do what you got to do.
Tomorrow is a new day —
a whole new set of circumstances
that are going to be difficult to navigate through,
but, you know, that's the way it goes right now.