Cali Wine Country Wildfires May Burn Business For Texas Wineries
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Wildfires burning 1,500 miles away in Northern California could soon impact wineries and vineyards in Texas.
While all of the wine at wineries like Times Ten Cellars is produced in Texas, a good portion of the grapes used come from Napa and Sonoma.
The area is currently engulfed by wildfires.
"It's devastating," said Dustin Walker, co-owner of Times Ten Cellars.
Walker said his winery gets about 10 to 20 percent of their wine from Northern California. While it is too soon to tell, Walker estimates consumers could start seeing prices increases on certain bottles from Wine Country in the next year.
"Just the smoke in the air can be detrimental to the other vineyards because it will go get into the vines, through the leaves, get into the grapes, the berries," said Walker.
The vineyards where flames have reached could set back grape production by 5 to 7 years as farmers will have to aggressively treat plants and soil.
"Some operations, some wineries might lose everything," said Walker. "So they need to outsource and get grapes from somewhere else."
Walker said while Oregon and Washington could help fill the void, Texas could also play a role in where wineries turn to for grapes.
"Let's say someone reached out to us and needed grapes, absolutely," said Walker.
He has not received any calls yet, but Walker would entertain the idea of selling the grapes from their vineyard in West Texas.
If the wildfires keep burning, grapes could soon become harder to find and more valuable.
"You're dealing with Mother Nature. And she will do what she wants -- when she wants," said Walker.
