Vineyard spills 97,000 gallons of wine, polluting California river, officials say
A Northern California vineyard’s tank of wine popped open on Wednesday, unleashing 97,000 gallons — some of which flowed into a local river, state officials said
The leak was reported around 2:30 p.m. at Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg, according to a hazardous materials spill update from the California Office of Emergency Services.
The caller who alerted authorities to the spill said that “a blending tank door popped out for unknown reasons and released 97,112 [gallons] of wine into Reiman Creek,” state officials said, adding that the spill ultimately made its way into the Russian River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean.
“We are deeply concerned and are doing everything in our power to protect our waterways,” Rodney Strong spokesman Chris O’Gorman said Thursday, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
State officials said the spill had been stopped and about 20 percent of the spilled liquid was contained.
“Contractor and Rodney Strong Vineyards is conducting the clean up,” officials wrote in the hazardous spills update.
The Healdsburg Fire Department and the Sonoma County Fire Services Department were responsible for handling the emergency, according to state officials.
“The uncertainty was how much of that made it into the creek and how much into the sanitary sewer system inside the facility,” Sonoma County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Elson said, according to the Press Democrat. “But there was a large, substantial amount into the creek and river.”
The spill came after “a door near the bottom of a large blending tank somehow popped open around 1:30 p.m. and released all of the cabernet sauvignon it was holding into a sanitary sewer system on the property,” per the Press Democrat.
The newspaper also reported that “Rodney Strong contracted with two vacuum truck operators to clean up the spill, and tried to assemble a dam in the creek, Elson said. The containment measure was unsuccessful, since water was flowing faster because of the recent rains.”
Rodney Strong, a retired dancer, founded the winery in 1959, saying “I knew I couldn’t be an old dancer, but I could be an old winemaker,” according to the winery’s site.
In 1989, the Kleins, a farming family in the region, purchased Rodney Strong Vineyards and updated the operation with modern technology, the site says.
The winery, which focuses on Sonoma County grape-growing and wines, has 14 estate vineyards in the region, including the Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Sonoma County coast.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Vineyard spills 97,000 gallons of wine, polluting California river, officials say."
