Wine Country Faces Wildfire Season With Skyrocketing Insurance Costs

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your bite-sized roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• The smoke hasn’t wafted over the Bay Area yet, but as the Beckwourth Complex Fire north of Tahoe continues to grow as the largest in the state, wine country is already worried. Many California wineries may be facing their most perilous wildfire season yet: The SF Chronicle reports that a number of wine country vintners have either lost or can’t afford skyrocketing insurance following last year’s wildfires. A number of the insurance carriers wineries previously relied on for years have withdrawn from the market, while others have reportedly increased their premiums to 300 percent or more, according to the Chronicle. While many insurance carriers withdrew from the market as a result of last year’s payouts, the increase in premiums is based on a risk assessment of the past 20 years, in what is another signal of a landscape under threat by events propelled by climate change. [SF Chronicle]
• There appears to be a buyer for Oakland’s iconic Uptown Nightclub, which shut down in 2020 after 15 years. The bar was put on the market back in May, and according to a Facebook message posted by the business on June 8, will reopen as a music venue with a new name and new ownership, as first reported by Berkeleyside. The potential name has whipped up a frenzy among social media users concerned about the future of the club’s guitar-neck, neon “Uptown” sign, which was included in the original Craigslist listing for the Uptown. [Berkeleyside]
• A longtime Peninsula coffee shop known for its hot lunch specials is up for sale after closing during the pandemic, in what the family behind the cafe hopes is a new but familiar chapter for the address. Nini’s Coffee Shop, at 1000 N. Idaho Street in San Mateo, hits the market Monday, July 12, reports the San Mateo Daily Journal, marking the end of the Swartz family’s 50-year run owning and operating the restaurant. [San Mateo Daily Journal]
• Bastille Day, France’s annual day of celebration, is this Wednesday, July 14, and San Francisco restaurants are honoring the holiday with rare French wines, special menus, and more. The Proper Hotel on Market is pouring six exclusive French wines in its lobby lounge July 13 through 17; Zazie in Cole Valley is running a special prix-fixe menu Wednesday and Thursday, and Left Bank Brasserie in Menlo Park is hosting a Bastille Day party complete with French dishes, live music and entertainment, and themed decor.