Napa Wineries and Restaurants Hit Hard by Earthquake

[Photo: Maureen Downey/Twitter]

Though the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit at 3:20am Sunday was felt by many in the Bay Area, the quake's North Bay epicenter meant that restaurants and winemakers in the Napa region were hit hard, with losses of inventory and structural damages that could cost over $1 billion.

As noted by Inside Scoop, broken glass from windows and bottles, along with intermittent power outages, caused Napa restaurants like La Toque, The Thomas and Oenotri to close their doors yesterday as owners and staff assessed the damages and performed cleanup. Ad Hoc and Redd were still dealing with power outages as of this morning.

Though La Toque will remained closed for a few days, chef-owner Ken Frank reports that 99 percent of the restaurant's million dollar wine inventory is intact. Less lucky was newly opened wine bar Cadet, which reported $15-$20k in lost inventory.

Still, those losses pale in comparison with potential damages to wineries like Matthiasson, which according to the LA Times, saw at least a thousand wine barrels, each weighing 900 pounds, thrown to the ground. In these cases, it's unclear how much of the wine can be salvaged: though wine may not be leaking from the displaced barrels, reorganizing the barrels is a tricky and dangerous proposition. Most vineyards are still assessing damages to their inventory: in the case of Yountville's Dahl Vineyards, one barrel of pinot noir worth $16,000 was lost. The LA Times also noted that wine from Napa Barrel Care (pictured above) was seen flowing into the parking lot, and oil from smashed bottles at Lucero Olive Oil was photographed running across the sidewalk outside the store.

The restaurant/bar sustaining the most structural damage may be Carpe Diem Wine Bar, which saw the building's third-floor brick facade crumble and crash down onto the restaurant's exterior, crushing awnings and breaking windows. Still, though the owners called the incident "devastating" in a Facebook post today, they are hopeful, stating that "we hope to get in and clean up as soon as we can."

In most cases, the full extent of the damages won't be known until areas are secured for safety and cleaned of broken glass. We'll keep you posted with updates as we learn more.

· Napa Quake May Cost Over $1 Billion in Damages [~ EN ~]
· Napa restaurants assess earthquake damage [Inside Scoop]
· Napa Valley wineries sustain damage from 6.0 earthquake [LA Times]