Raging fire turns Napa Valley's wine spots to ashes

A pile of melted wine glasses sit in front of the burned remains of the Castello Di Amorosa winery. Pic/AFP

The Silverado Trail has long been a place of dreams for Napa Valley wine lovers as it winds gently through vineyards and on to Calistoga.

California's Glass Fire turned much of that dream to ash, destroying a three-star restaurant at Meadowood resort, torching wineries such as Chateau Boswell, and tainting precious grapes with smoke.

The United States's west coast is experiencing a record-breaking fire season, with five of the state's six biggest blazes in history currently burning, and nearly four million acres scorched. At least a dozen Napa wineries were burned as the inferno erupted this week, with the scorched area now spanning almost 50,000 acres.

On Wednesday at the Trailside Inn Bed and Breakfast, the skeletal remains of a bus converted into an RV (campervan) sat in a smouldering patch near a vintage Packard car with paint melted off the hood. Wineries that weren't in ruins were closed, often unattended because people had been ordered to evacuate the area and not allowed back in.

A guard stood watch at the entrance to Meadowood, where chef Christopher Kostow had turned the resort's eponymous restaurant a dining experience that earned three Michelin stars. While some other parts of the resort were spared, the restaurant was obliterated.

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