Powerless to pause harvest in California

Map of power cuts in northern California in October 2019

How will northern California's power cuts affect this year's vintage?

Last week on 8 October California marked a rather sad anniversary: two years since a series of fires devastated Sonoma County, killing 22 people and destroying entire neighbourhoods that have yet to fully recover.

Somewhat unnervingly on the eve of this solemn occasion, California state meteorologists issued a Red Flag warning, predicting the particularly dangerous combination of extremely low humidity and high winds responsible for the last two years of deadly wildfire seasons in California.

In an effort to reduce the risk of fires, Pacific Gas and Electric, the...