Early estimates of Pickett Fire’s economic impact to Napa wine industry around $65M

By Andrea Nakano

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    NAPA COUNTY (KPIX) — Business Early estimates of Pickett Fire’s economic impact to Napa wine industry around $65M sanfrancisco By Andrea Nakano August 28, 2025 / 5:00 AM PDT / CBS San Francisco

The Napa County Agricultural Commissioner said it estimates the Pickett Fire has caused $65 million in damages, mostly impacting the wine industry.

While fire crews are getting the upper hand on the Pickett Fire, the damage it left behind is devastating for Napa County’s wine industry. Bruce Regalia knows exactly what flames and smoke can do to grapes.

“I think about years past when we lost all our fruit,” Regalia said. “There were years we had so much smoke that we didn’t harvest any fruit.”

Regalia has been making wines for more than 30 years. He said he is hoping this year’s crop will be OK since Wild Diamond Vineyards is well north of the Pickett Fire. Regalia said it doesn’t take much for smoke-influenced grapes to produce wines that taste like ashtrays.

“It infiltrates the grape through the skin, and it makes a compound that is not pleasant to taste,” he said.

Napa County’s Ag Commissioner estimates the fire impacted roughly 1,500 acres of crops. Of the affected grapes, 20% of the grapes were damaged by actual fire and heat, and 80% by just the smoke.

“This number is an early snapshot. I cannot stress that enough,” said Tracy Cleveland, Napa County Agricultural Commissioner. “It’s an early snapshot. The full picture will continue to unfold as we gather more information from growers, vintners and at producers in the weeks ahead.”

Winemaker Bruce Regalia said there is a way to test smoke-influenced fruit or make a small batch to see how the grapes fare during the fermentation process, but it’s not as simple as just tasting a grape off the vine.

With the frequency of fires in the last decade, the wine industry is pushing for research to find ways to chemically reduce the taste of smoke and minimize wildfire effects.

“People have tried filtration and different methods,” said Regalia. “You can make it better, but I haven’t tasted any wines where they completely cured it.”

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