Market shock?

We received news last weekend that a powerful 6.0 earthquake centered just north and west of the town of American Canyon shook the iconic wine country of northern California. While the majority of the coverage and video that ran on television focused on the damage to the historic town of Napa, wine consumers have asked about the losses wineries sustained.

While the quake was centered in southern Napa County, the shaking was felt in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake Counties, as well as the metropolitan area around San Francisco Bay. Total losses are being reported at approximately $4 billion, with about half of that number being insured.

Given the global nature of today's wine market, it is unlikely that any large price spikes will be felt. Less wine from Napa and surrounding appellations will be made up by wineries in other parts of California and the Northwest. Producers from around the world, too, will likely fill any void created by the quake. About three years ago, a large quake off the Chilean coast shook wine country there, but the gap in inventory was quickly filled; while some Chilean wines were a bit tougher to find, pricing remained stable.

More specifically, here is what we are hearing from our winery friends in the area. Case goods - wine that is already bottled and boxed then stacked on palates - largely made it through the quake in good shape. After wine is bottled and is being stored, it is stacked on palates. Four courses, or layers, each containing 14 cases are placed on a palate for a total of 56 cases. They are then shrink-wrapped, and palates are stacked on top of each other and placed right next to each other. This provided some security and integrity to the stacks, resulting in less damage and breakage.

Bottles out of the boxes on shelves in wine shops and winery tasting rooms did not fare so well. With nothing to hold them in place, the hard surfaces did their damage, breaking the falling bottles.

The most severe damage in wineries and storage facilities was to wine in barrel and tank. Earthquakes are mystifying things. They result in damage in unlikely areas, while areas closer to epicenter - where you would expect much harm - come through relatively unscathed. We have heard that Trefethen, one of our favorite wineries and wine families in wine country, sustained severe damage to an entire building. We also heard that iconic winery Silver Oak lost a fair amount of their library collection. For other wineries, many still do not know.

For many, barrel storage was heavily damaged. Wine ageing in barrel is stacked one barrel on top of another, sometimes going up 20, 30 or more feet on U-shaped brackets that allow the stacking. In storage units and wineries with their own barrel storage, the stacks are not anchored or tied in any way because they are frequently moved around as the wine ages. All of the weight of full barrels being stacked that way makes them inherently unstable when a quake hits. The losses for wine in barrel were extensive.

Wines in tank fared little better. When wine is about to be bottled, it is pumped from the individual barrels into large stainless steel tanks to blend prior to bottling. The tanks are supported by relatively thin metal legs; the legs buckled in the quake, resulting in the tanks collapsing and all of the wine being lost. Word is that Hess winery lost two 20,000 gallon tanks. This type of loss was random and by chance, if a winery was due to bottle soon.

Fortunately, the quake hit before harvest, when the 2014 grapes would have been in tank and barrel during fermentation. Also lucky was with the quake striking in the middle of the night, no winery workers or visitors were injured by the falling barrels, bottles, and tanks.

Overall, price spikes are unlikely, and there will be wine from northern California wineries available. The likely bad news for wine consumers is that you will miss some of your favorite varietals from specific wineries for certain years. Others will still be around; at this point, it appears to be just this random.

For some smaller wineries, if they lost enough inventory, they could go out of business; much is still not known, as barrel storage facilities inventory their losses. We will continue to update the story as we learn more about how all came through this very powerful and damaging quake.

If there is a topic you would like to read about or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party, a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George has also worked as a judge in many wine competitions; his articles are published around the country. He is also the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene Magazine (www.cdamagazine.com). You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles, as well as other great wine tips, by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.