(Bloomberg) — Wineries and hospitality businesses in and aroundNapa, California, near the epicenter of the worst earthquake to hitthe area in 25 years, rushed to clean up rubble and broken glassahead of the expected influx of tourists for a drought-acceleratedgrape harvest.

“We are right in the thick of it,” said Steve Matthiasson, aNapa-based grape grower and vintner who produces wine under theMatthiasson label. “It could not be a worse time” for a quake.

The temblor, 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale, struck theCalifornia wine country early yesterday about 60 miles north of SanFrancisco. It could lead to economic losses of as much as $4billion from wrecked wine stock and shuttered businesses that relyon tourists, according to an estimate from Kinetic AnalysisCorp.

The earthquake crumpled parts of historic buildings, crackedroads and injured more than 200 people. Structural damage wasconcentrated in the city of Napa, especially in the downtown area,and the wineries, hotels, restaurants and other businesses nearby.Still, some tasting rooms were open just hours after theearthquake.

“Everybody can get back to business here pretty quick, once westop jumping every time we hear a door slam or a roof creak,” saidRob McMillan, executive vice president and founder of SiliconValley Bank's wine division. “The businesses here are reallylooking forward to hosting people.”

Early harvest

The earthquake came as the Napa-Sonoma area has been forced tospeed up the grape harvest amid a worsening drought that hasgripped the state for three years. The harvest under way now isusually in September, traditionally the industry's busiest time anda peak period for visitors.

“You have people from the San Francisco Bay area that might notcome up, but the roads are open and with the exception of a fewareas that are cordoned off, it really isn't a problem getting upand down the valley,” said Michael Honig, owner of Honig Vineyard& Winery and a board member of Napa Valley Vintners, a tradeassociation. “The people who are coming in on airplanes or from adistance I don't think are going to change their plans.”

Domaine Carneros, with a Napa Valley-based chateau surrounded byrolling hills dotted with vineyards, is seeing about half itsnormal rate of tourist visits today, said Eileen Crane, chiefexecutive officer and founding winemaker.

'Staying away'

“Right now, people are staying away,” she said. “A lot of thewineries are closed.”

Crane said she expects the flow of visitors to rebound quickly.“By Sept. 15, we'll be at about 90 to 95%,” she said. “Why wouldn'tyou want to come here?”

Bill Price, chairman of Sonoma-based Vincraft Group and co-founder of buyout firm TPG Capital, said two of his wine brands,Three Sticks and Kistler Vineyards, have tasting rooms in SonomaCounty and could be harmed by a drop in tourism.

“Both of those rely on visitors for a lot of their business,”said Price, who is owner or part owner of seven wineries in Napa,Sonoma and Santa Barbara. “I'm afraid that the perception from theoutside, that it would discourage people from coming to Napa orSonoma.”

Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa lost about a third of its wine andliquor inventory, worth $20,000 to $30,000, said Curtis Bradford,the restaurant's manager.

“Everything behind the bar was on the floor as far as liquor,”he said. “The refrigerators all opened up and emptied out. Chinafrom where we store the china in the dining room was on thefloor.”

Cleanup effort

The cleanup effort also extended to boutique hotels, spas andshops across town as they prepare for the upcoming three-day LaborDay holiday weekend.

Napa County had 789 licensed wineries with combined sales of$5.5 billion in 2011, according to the Napa Valley Vintners. Somewineries, mostly in the city of Napa and immediate surroundingareas, sustained significant damage to barreling storage, wineinventories and production equipment, according to the Napa ValleyVintners.

“People are starting to clean up and get on with the business ofharvest,” Cate Conniff, a spokeswoman for the vintners, said in atelephone interview. “There's a strong spirit of collaborationhere. If someone's missing a fermenter, someone's going to get itto them.”

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today in Arlington,Virginia, that it was too early to make any disaster declarationthat would give affected wine growers eligibility for special loansand disaster assistance.

Loma Prieta

The temblor was the strongest in the Bay Area since the 6.9 LomaPrieta earthquake that rocked San Francisco in October 1989.

Insurers will probably cover about $2.1 billion in damage,according to Kinetic Analysis. Costs borne by the insuranceindustry may be limited because many homeowners don't haveearthquake coverage, according to the Insurance InformationInstitute.

Catastrophe-modeler Eqecat Inc. estimated there would be $1billion of insured losses, with as much as half that figure comingfrom residential claims. The cost for insurers could climb becauseof coverage that protects commercial policyholders from lostrevenue, Eqecat said. Such losses have fueled higher- than-expectedclaims from other catastrophes including superstorm Sandy in2012.

Even winemakers with damage will need to turn their attention tothe grape harvest, because the crop must be picked at exactly theright time.

“During harvest, you work 14 hours a day, seven days a week,”said Steve Matthiasson. “There's no spare time. We have to pick ourgrapes. We still harvested this morning while literally taking downthe chimney in our house and planning on fixing the foundation atthe same time. And we'll harvest grapes again tomorrow.”

With assistance from Alan Bjerga in Washington, LydiaMulvany and Megan Durisin in Chicago and Zachary Tracer in NewYork.

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