An interesting and somewhat contradictory thing is happening to the California wine industry right now: It’s starting to show signs of a downturn, even though Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties just had their most lucrative wine-grape harvest ever in 2023. In the Napa Valley alone, the latest crop reports show last year’s plentiful rains made for a 35% increase in “the gross value of its agricultural production,” the North Bay Business Journal reports — for a haul worth over $1.2 billion. But those numbers might not hold in future years, if recent market reports are any indication. Demand for wine — especially among younger people — has been plummeting over the past year, after a boom during the first couple years of the pandemic, according to an in-depth piece published earlier this month by the San Francisco Chronicle. (Apparently young people are finding other ways to numb their pain!) “The entire $55 billion California wine industry is, like the wine industry worldwide, experiencing an unprecedented downturn now,” the Chronicle reports. “No sector is immune — not the luxury tier, not the big conglomerates, not the upstart natural wines. Wine consumption fell 8.7% in 2023, according to leading industry analyst the Gomberg Fredrikson Report, a sobering reversal for an industry that had, for a quarter-century, taken annual growth for granted. This year could be the breaking point, with many industry figures predicting ‘a good-sized housecleaning,’ as put by Ian Brand, owner of I. Brand & Family Winery in Monterey County. ‘A lot of brands are dead, but they don’t even know it right now,’ echoed Michael Honig, president of Honig Vineyard & Winery in Napa Valley.” Under this doomsday cloud for the industry, vintners all over California are reportedly making the tough decision to rip out their vineyards. Meanwhile, a growing cohort of activists — including some in Sonoma County — are trying to protect historic, old-growth vines from the sweep. More from CBS: “Winemakers in Lodi, pulling vines from the ground, reflect an industry that has hit a pocket of uncertainty. After decades of steady growth, wine consumption has plateaued, or even started to decline by some measures. So, supply is up while demand is heading the other direction. And while industry giants in Napa may be slightly insulated from this, [Tom Davies, President of V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena] said, yes, the industry is changing. ‘We were blessed with people my age, drinking wine,’ Davies said of the possible generational divide. ‘They were really loyal. The Boomers discovered wine.’ He said younger drinkers may not be shifting towards wine like their parents. Something he thinks can and will happen. ‘I think that it is incumbent upon our industry, to learn how we talk to this new generation,’ Davis said.” In a somewhat dark turn for the traditionalists among us, the Business Journal reports that big wine brands are trying to win over Gen Z by pushing lighter, more low-cal wines — and food-and-bev marketing gurus are recommending winemakers explore more of the fun, fruity flavors that have helped the hard seltzer and vape industries win over the kids. Oh, lordy… (Source: SF Chronicle & CBS News & North Bay Business Journal & North Bay Business Journal & North Bay Business Journal & North Bay Biz & Barrel Ahead & Retail Wire & Progressive Grocer)

It’s about that time of year in the wine country when we all start bracing for fire season. We’ve been lucky these past few years to avoid some of the more massive, destructive wildfires that tore through local hills, valleys and towns during the summers of 2017 through 2020. The super dry, drought conditions of those years have begun to ease — most of California’s reservoirs are reportedly filled to the brim right now — and local fire departments have grown progressively larger, smarter, quicker and better-funded. The Press Democrat published a preview last week of what to expect this fire season. Here are some highlights: “Over the next four months, according to the Wildfire Forecast and Threat Intelligence Integration Center, the chances for significant fire potential are normal or below normal in Northern California. That’s due to multiple factors, including greater rainfall, fewer extremely hot days, added moisture among fuels, a strong snowpack and more. But this good news may change at any time. ‘It’s not time to be complacent,’ Cal Fire spokesperson Jason Clay said. This year, the warmer season is starting off nearly the same as 2023, following yet another rainy winter. More than 37 inches of rain fell at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa since Oct. 1, 2023, according to official rainfall totals. The rains over the past two years have almost eliminated drought conditions in the state and have kept larger fire fuels, like trees, damp for longer. At the same time, lighter fuels that can lead to flashier burns, such as grasses, thrived in the conditions and grew. This was the same case last year, when there were no large wildfires. But that’s not a 100% guarantee big fires won’t pop up. The North Bay experienced a similarly wet winter before the 2017 North Bay firestorm that killed 40 people in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties in November 2017. The firestorm included about six named major fires and altogether destroyed nearly 6,200 homes in the region. So, it can change with the drop of a lightning strike or a whip of a wind gust, Clay said. ‘Mother Nature being kind to us,’ he said, has been one of the biggest reasons why there have not been larger wildfires in the past few years.” A bunch of new policies and programs put in place by local governments and partners in the offseason — like staging prescribed burns, creating defensible space and carving out “fuel breaks” to slow the spread of wildfires — seem to be helping, too. But fire officials warn that if dry La Niña winds start blowing midsummer, which is looking like a 50/50-plus possibility at this point, wildfire risk could rise significantly by August. So the resounding message from officials is still to stay vigilant. Healdsburg native and State Senate President Mike McGuire, who reps the North Coast, held an online town hall last week to kick off National Wildfire Preparedness Month. On the call, Santa Rosa’s fire chief said: “We can’t rest on the fact that we have had rain. We can’t rest on the fact that we have had a few years to get some really solid vegetation management, defensible space, fuel reduction work done. We all have to be prepared. We all have to be ready. We have to be prepared for this. It takes everybody for us to be successful.” That said, the residents of Mark West Springs between Santa Rosa and Windsor, a neighborhood razed by the Tubbs Fire in 2017, aren’t hesitating to celebrate how far they’ve come in the rebuilding process. They reportedly held a big party last Saturday afternoon at the site of a park they’re building — with features like a “cutting-edge water fountain and drought-tolerant butterfly garden,” according to the PD — to mark a community “rebirth” in the years since the fire. Onward and upward… (Source: Press Democrat & KRCB & North Bay Business Journal & Press Democrat & Press Democrat & KRCB)

In the wake of solar-eclipse mania earlier this spring, we got another bump of cosmic euphoria last weekend in the form of some rare northern-lights sightings, much farther south than usual. This was pretty much a once-in-a-generation phenomenon; the last time it happened here was reportedly more than 20 years ago. (Not sure what I was doing that night in 2003!) And last weekend’s big aurora show arguably eclipsed the eclipse, in terms of pure glitz factor — watercoloring the sky in a dazzling wash of pinks, purples, yellows, blues and greens. Aurora borealis chasers swarmed all the rural nooks of the wine country with the least light pollution on Friday and Saturday nights, armed with cellphone cameras whose slow-exposure tech has gotten so advanced that often the photos were even more mind-blowing than the naked-eye view. Just another quick reminder that we are mere specks in a vast and incomprehensibly epic universe of wonders! As you may have already learned by furiously googling “WTF is going on” like much of the country, all this gorgeousness was caused by a momentous geomagnetic storm — aka, even more chaos than usual coming from the stormy ball of gas and plasma that is our sun. Here’s some more info from a CBS News report, which almost reads like campy sci-fi: “An ‘extreme’ G5 geomagnetic storm reached Earth on Friday, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said, after issuing a watch earlier in the day warning of the potential for a severe impact. The watch followed days of solar activity that sent several explosions of plasma and magnetic fields toward Earth. G5 is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, on a scale from G1 to G5. ‘Widespread voltage control problems and protective system problems can occur,’ NOAA warns. ‘Some grid systems may experience complete collapse or blackouts. Transformers may experience damage.’ Radio transmissions and satellite navigation may also be disrupted.” If you’re into pseudoscience like moi, you may have also experienced some power-of-suggestion solar storm symptoms like nausea, headaches, grogginess, soreness and general existential angst. Here’s an excerpt from one especially out-there PR email I received yesterday from a publicist for “psychic influencer Elizabeth April” (don’t ask me how I get on these lists): “Solar storms have a profound effect on the human body and consciousness. However, most people have difficulty rationalizing how or why astronomical events such as Mercury retrograde can knock them off their equilibrium so much. Here to offer a guiding light is Elizabeth April, an intuitive psychic and best-selling author. Through her popular YouTube channel, social media accounts (210k IG followers), and podcast, Elizabeth has enlightened hundreds of thousands on their unique station in the universe.” Nothing like a big space event to get the crazy juices flowing! How about I leave us with some grounding words from national weather officials, who are better trained at drawing the line at mere awe: “For many people, the aurora is a beautiful nighttime phenomenon that is worth traveling to arctic regions just to observe. It is the only way for most people to actually experience space weather.” Amen. (Source: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration & CBS News & SF Chronicle & Napa Valley Register & Press Democrat)

Well, that escalated quickly. Sonoma State University President Mike Lee has reportedly been placed on leave by his bosses at California State University headquarters after going rogue on Tuesday and agreeing to meet some of the demands of Gaza war protesters on campus, apparently without consulting his CSU overlords. “Because of this insubordination and the consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave,” the head of the CSU system told Politico. Lee sent a mass email to Sonoma State students and staff Tuesday night, detailing the concessions — which did seem much more dramatic than some of the more conservative steps announced in recent days by administrators at, say, the UC Berkeley campus. The 20 or so Sonoma State protesters who had been holding their ground on “Person Lawn” for the past few weeks declared victory and packed up their stuff, vacating the lawn yesterday. Which made it a little awkward when the school president sent another email later that afternoon, apologizing for his overreach and announcing his leave. Lee wrote: “In my attempt to find agreement with one group of students, I marginalized other members of our student population and community. … As I step away on a leave, I will reflect on the harm this has caused and will be working with the Chancellor’s Office to determine next steps.” His temporary replacement will be Nathan Evans, one of the school’s deputy vice chancellors. In Lee’s original message that got him in trouble, reprinted by the Press Democrat, he called for an immediate ceasefire and promised, on the university’s behalf, to research all investments possibly touching Israel’s war in Gaza, then disclose them to the public and possibly find alternatives. He also promised to terminate any study-abroad programs sending students to Israel and any academic collaborations with “Israeli academic and research institutions.” This last point, in particular, angered some SSU professors. Stephen Bittner, chair of the SSU history department and director of its Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, told the Press Democrat: “The academic boycott of Israel is atrocious and morally reprehensible, in my view. It is contrary to the values of scholarly freedom, and free exchange, that are supposed to be at the center of any university.” Here’s some more analysis on Lee’s dismissal, from Politico: “The punishment marks perhaps the harshest disciplinary action against a campus chancellor or president in California over the handling of protests of the war in Gaza. It also underscores an unwillingness to divest from Israeli weapons manufacturers — as pro-Palestinian protesters across the country have increasingly demanded the last few months — among leaders of the CSU system and its sister University of California system. California universities including UC Riverside, UC Berkeley and Sacramento State have agreed to study divestment like some East Coast universities, but none have gone as far as Lee.” In an Instagram post today, the Sonoma County chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace criticized CSU officials for dismissing Lee. They wrote: “This disciplinary action sets a dangerous precedent for all campus leaders moving forward. We would also like to note that this unjust disciplinary action was taken against the second Asian American President of SSU during the middle of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.” The SSU protesters, for their part, wrote in a post of support for Lee: “We choose insubordination.” Protest camps started springing up at college campuses across the globe late last month, and are now being dismantled one by one, either by choice or by force. The camp at Sonoma State never saw any violence, although Lee did accuse protesters at one point of chalking some anti-Semitic phrases onto a school sidewalk. (Source: Sonoma State University & SSU Students for Justice in Palestine via Instagram & Jewish Voices for Peace Sonoma County via Instagram & Politico & U.K. Guardian & Press Democrat & Press Democrat & Press Democrat & San Francisco Chronicle)