Wine country expected to survive stormy weather

By MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer

Winter storms made a mess in California's wine country, but the rains were not expected to wash out the region's valuable grape crop, officials said.

Weekend storms washed debris over vine trellises, knocked down posts and sent soil downhill. But with the 2005 harvest safely in weeks ago and the vines dormant for the winter, vintners were not expecting serious problems.

"There's certainly been a lot of vines under water, but they've been under water before," said Nick Frey, executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association, on Monday.

The big problem facing vintners was repairing damage to downed posts and flooded equipment, cleaning out the rubbish washed in by urban floodwaters and digging out from sediment.

Hillside growers face the opposite problem of building up soil eroded by the storms.

The storms hit hard over the weekend, swelling the Napa River to 5 feet above flood stage and swamping several downtown blocks. Napa officials said about 600 homes and 150 businesses were flooded, causing about $50 million in damage. Estimates for vineyard flooding were not immediately available.

"There'll be debris washed up and there probably was some debris taken off the property," said Chris Carpenter, winemaker at the Cardinale winery in Oakville. "The vines are pretty resilient and they're all shut down, so they can be completely submerged and they'll all come back."

People have planted crops in flood areas "for millennia," he said. "What's happened is they're also starting to plant houses in flood areas because they're beautiful places to be in."

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