Colter's Creek Winery destroyed by North Idaho wildfire

Colter’s Creek Winery was destroyed by the rampaging Gwen Fire and its owners announced Monday they will not rebuild and plan to exit the wine making business.

During its explosive growth Thursday, the fire ripped through the lower Potlatch River Canyon near Juliaetta. It leveled several homes and torched the winery’s production center, wine making equipment and warehouse holding about 25,000 gallons of wine. While most of the vineyard survived, the fire melted its irrigation system.

“We had a production facility, it’s gone. We had a bottling facility, it’s gone and we had a warehouse full of wine and it’s gone,” Mike Pearson told the Tribune.

He and Melissa Sanborn own the award winning winery that was named the Idaho Winery of the year in 2020 by Wine Press Northwest. Pearson said their home narrowly survived but the damage to the business is so extensive that it would take millions of dollars to continue.

“It’s just a real bummer, instantly going from 25,000 gallons of wine down to 200 cases,” he said. “It’s that kind of stuff, it’s heartbreaking. We’ve been at it for 17 years.”

They plan to open their tasting room in Moscow to loyal fans and sell off what survived of their inventory. They wrote in a social media post that they are overwhelmed at the number of people who have reached out and offered assistance and said people can help by continuing to support the vineyards and wine making businesses of Idaho.

“Grab a bottle of Idaho wine and enjoy the hard work of so many. Thank you all for the ride, and we look forward to enjoying a glass with you down the road,” they wrote.

The nearby Rivaura Estate Vineyard Winery was not burned in the fire that has grown to nearly 29,000 acres, according to the latest estimate.

A section of U.S. Highway 12, from Arrow to Lenore, reopened Thursday evening. The highway had been closed since Thursday.

Jared Hopkins, an operations engineer for the Idaho Transportation Department, asked people who drive through the fire area to go slow and be on the outlook for hazards.

“With this latest wind and rain we are seeing a lot of blowing dust and a lot of rocks on the road so we are asking that if you do take the road, (do it) very cautiously. We are asking people to go about 35 miles per hour.”

He said ITD workers will be clearing rocks and debris and firefighters will continue to use the road.

A cold front moved across the Inland Northwest on Monday, bringing windy weather with gusts of 25 to 30 mph and light rain. During a community meeting at Lapwai, a National Weather Service meteorologist working with the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team 3 said the fire area could receive a tenth to a quarter inch of rain through today along with lower relative humidity levels and lighter winds. But he cautioned a high pressure ridge will park over the West and bring a return to hot and dry weather later in the week.

“That is going to bring us temperatures over 100 degrees — potentially 105 degrees or warmer on Friday at the lowest elevations — so very hot and dry again,” said Spencer Tangen.

Incident Commander Bill Waln said firefighting resources are tight across the country. Fires are raging in California, Oregon and Washington in particular and there are nearly 100 large uncontained fires burning across the nation. The national firefight apparatus has 44 incident command teams and 32 of them are deployed.

“We have over 27,000 firefighters on the ground. We are at a record all-time (for) responders on the ground and our western fire season hasn’t even really kicked off yet. This is usually when we just start thinking about fires,” Waln said.

There are about 200 firefighters working to stop the Gwen Fire. Waln said the team is concerned about public and firefighter safety while also working to protect homes, businesses, cultural sites, agricultural crops and timber within the 28,805-acre fire perimeter.

On Monday, firefighters worked to stop the eastward advance of the fire at Pine Creek, which drains into the Clearwater River from the north, just east of Cherrylane.

“There is a lot of fuel in that drainage and there is still a lot of heat there and the potential it could spot across that drainage,” said fire information officer Shawna Hartman.

Firefighters also worked within the perimeter of the fire to find and put out hot spots to prevent them from spreading to unburned pockets. She said work has been a priority and is one reason why containment levels remain at zero.

“We have firefighters still in there actively fighting the fire, and we are cautiously optimistic we may have gotten through some of the worst of the weather,” she said. “But especially with so many structures in the area.”