(Bloomberg) — Wineries and hospitality businesses in and around Napa, California, near the epicenter of the worst earthquake to hit the area in 25 years, rushed to clean up rubble and broken glass ahead of the expected influx of tourists for a drought-accelerated grape harvest.
“We are right in the thick of it,” said Steve Matthiasson, a Napa-based grape grower and vintner who produces wine under the Matthiasson label. “It could not be a worse time” for a quake.
The temblor, 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale, struck the California wine country early yesterday about 60 miles north of San Francisco. It could lead to economic losses of as much as $4 billion from wrecked wine stock and shuttered businesses that rely on tourists, according to an estimate from Kinetic Analysis Corp.
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