Sonoma County Goes After Winery Over Huge Wine Spill

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (CN) — The Sonoma County District Attorney’s office wants to penalize Rodney Strong Vineyards after a faulty wine-blending tank caused what could be the biggest wine spill in county history last year.

Roughly 97,000 gallons of cabernet sauvignon leaked into Russian River tributary Reiman Creek on Jan. 22, 2020, the fault of a blending tank hatch that unexpectedly popped open.

At the time, the winery believed that at least 50% of the wine never made it past its vineyard ponds, pumps and drainpipes — and the recovery efforts of winery personnel and a third-party contractor — but added, “Unfortunately, some wine made it from the creek into the Russian River.”

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