A big loser in West Coast quake: Napa Valley wineries --- The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Northern California on Sunday morning, bringing down thousands of barrels and bottles of high-priced wine, couldn’t have come at a worse time in wine country. The region, which has been battling one of its worst droughts in decades, was preparing for a premature harvest. -- The country’s well-known wine-making region, Napa Valley, was at the epicenter of the earthquake responsible for dozens of injuries and damages estimated to surpass $1 billion. And wine that bled out on cellar floors will make up a hefty chunk of the lost revenue. The valley’s more than 500 wineries generate some $13 billion a year for the regional economy, according to Napa Valley Vintners, a trade organization. -- California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) declared a state of emergency Sunday after the earthquake — the worst to rattle the Bay Area in 25 years — took out power lines, ignited fires, broke water mains, damaged numerous homes and businesses, and sent more than 120 people to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Times. Nearly 100 houses and more than 30 buildings have been deemed too dangerous to enter. -- “It’s devastating. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Tom Montgomery, a winemaker for B.R. Cohn Winery in Glen Ellen, Calif., told the Associated Press. He said the winery lost “as much as 50 percent” of its wine. -- In the wake of the quake, David Oppenheimer, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., told the Wall Street Journal the economic losses facing the valley could exceed $100 million. -- Winemakers were still calculating the damage on Sunday. - Read More, Washingtonpost, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/25/big-loser-in-west-coast-quake-napa-valley-wineries/?hpid=z4