Helping others amid the fire
Fires, earthquakes and the pandemic have not stopped the owners of this Napa Valley kosher winery helping others in the spirit of tikkun olam
SINCE AUGUST, wildfires have raged across California. By Rosh Hashanah, 28 blazes had killed 26 people, destroyed thousands of structures and burned a massive 3.6 million acres. The flames have burned within a couple of miles of Ernie Weir’s Napa Valley-based kosher winery, Hagafen Cellars. He and his team are frantically trying to finish this year’s harvest in case the fire reaches them.
It’s not the first time they have been affected by natural disasters. “We’ve been tested in the last few years. In August 2014 — just before the harvest — there was a very large earthquake,” says the winemaker, who opened the winery with his wife, Irit, more than 40 years ago.
“And then in 2017, we had these huge fires all around the area. Our vineyards suffered massive fire damage — we lost about 2,400 vines. Our guest houses and the landscaping were destroyed. The winery building itself is made from steel and was OK, and our tasting room, which is built from stone, survived too.”
Weir was a pioneer in kosher wine, recognised by many as one of the major players in its renaissance. It was this vineyard that brought quality Californian wine to the kosher category at a time when it was dominated by the bland, sweet table wines that gave kosher products such a bad reputation. Over the years his wines have won numerous awards and been served by several US presidents to guests at White House banquets.
The pandemic brought yet another challenge. Although Weir is used to the rise and fall in demand in the wine world, with lockdown came an unprecedented plummet in sales, coupled with the overnight closure to the doors of his tasting rooms. When I spoke to him in early August, he remained positive: “I’m an optimistic person by nature, so even though we’re in the midst of a bad situation, it will get better. This too shall pass.”
He is also a generous man, and instead of bemoaning his fate, Weir chose to turn the bad into good. He explains that although he was able to replant 1,500 vines that were lost in one vineyard, it wasn’t possible to replant the entire estate at once. “On the other vineyard, vines that were scorched are due to be replanted by 2022. Our capacity has been reduced by 50 per cent by the fire, maybe 60 per cent.” The area awaiting planting left him with an empty field.
“One of our team suggested we grow vegetables on it. I was negative initially, but then the lightbulb came on. I realised that so many in the [Jewish] community and other communities had no food as a result of the pandemic, and that we could donate what we grew to a food bank.”
“In the spirit of tikkun olam, I said that’s a natural! This comes quite easily to me as a Jew — we know how to take care of each other and of others. Those of us who can, give generously.”
He says he was also motivated to inspire others to “get off their butts and do something!”
He was used to farming a range of produce. “Every year we grow vegetables in smaller gardens — one at our home and another at the winery. They are for us, our employees and for friends; but this extra field was intentionally for others.”
On the new vegetable field, which they have named the Covid-19 Victory Garden, the winemaker and his team have been growing corn, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, courgettes, peppers — sweet and hot — and watermelons.
Over the past few months, the vegetables have been delivered twice weekly to the Napa Valley Food Bank, which distributes free food to seven sites throughout the area.
“We started sending between 20 and 40 kilos, which rose to 100 kilos in about a couple of weeks. I’d like to reach a tonne.”
That was at the start of the season. When I checked in with them this week, Hagafen’s market manager, Michael Gelven reported that they had “delivered hundreds and hundreds of pounds of produce to the food bank”.
Once they were able to start tastings again outdoors — in spaces separated by screens — they also started offering their vegetables from a farm stand at the winery.
“The proceeds go towards supplying fresh vegetables to those in need,” says Weir.
He was philosophical when asked if his industry will survive this toughest challenge of all. “The wine world goes from oversupply to undersupply from year to year. We had a beautiful harvest in 2018, which was wonderful, but now we have too much. We need everyone to drink more wine!”
For now, the main aim is to get the grapes in quickly, and pray that the fires don’t reach them again. “There is huge anxiety over the proximity of the blaze. The smoke has been so thick some days we couldn’t see the sun. Everybody’s nervous — it’s a surreal experience,” says Gelven.