By now, most of you reading this will have at least some knowledge of the devastation that is impacting Northern California wine country in the wake of over one dozen fires that, at the time of this writing, have left over twenty people dead, burned more than three thousand or more structures to the ground, and has consumed roughly 170,000 acres (for some perspective, that is and area larger than the city of Chicago).

Because the situation is changing rapidly due to weather conditions, it will be some time before we know the true impact to the wine businesses in Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino, and to the lives of the people who are at the heart of those businesses. For those of you who are looking for details on the impact, WineBusiness.com blog is keeping a list of winerires destroyed or damaged in the blazes.

Personal reports sent to me by those in the area all have one thing in common: the situation is just as bad – if not worse – than depicted in news reports.Fortunately, a good number of the people that I know in those areas have checked in as safe, but how the fires have affected harvests, aging wines in storage, inventory, vineyards… we’re not going to know the extent of that anytime too soon. The feeling of near-helplessness from the Left Coast as friends tell me they are evacuating their homes (some multiple times) has been, in a word, heartbreaking.

What those of us who are remote and care deeply about those gorgeous areas, their beautiful wines, and their wonderful people can do, however, is donate to those funds that are in a position to do something to help. Following are donation links provided by McCue Marketing Communications:

• Sonoma County Resilience Fund: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1431417
• Napa Valley Community Foundation: http://napavalleycf.org/fire-donation-page/
• Community Foundation of Mendocino County: http://www.communityfound.org/for-donors/donate-today/community-funds/disaster-fund-for-mendocino-county/
• Additionally, there is a GoFundMe effort kicked off by Charles Communications’ Kimberly Noelle Charles (after only about one day, this one is already getting close to its funding goal; you rock, Kimberly!).

Please consider donating.

Thank you!