Can California’s top wine region survive the era of megafire?

As the climate crisis brings increasingly unpredictable fire seasons, the future of the $43bn industry is uncertainThe Silverado Trail, a two-lane road that weaves through the bucolic hillsides in the heart of California’s wine country, is the quintessential vision of Napa Valley. Home to dozens of wineries, it is a destination within a destination – one that welcomes both vacationing imbibers and oenophiles from around the world.But recently the amber hillsides have been laced with the ashen aftermath of wildfires that have torn through the region, leaving behind charred rubble that is fast becoming as much a part of the landscape as the neatly trussed rows of vines. Related: Charred homes and crumbled walls: tallying the destruction of a California wildfire Global warming is here, and Napa is going to have to alter what it is doingOur region feels like it has been hit with crisis after crisis after crisis Continue reading...