(PD) - Lake County vintners were grappling Monday with the effects of the massive Valley fire on the county’s $60 million grape crop as the blaze destroyed at least one winery, gutted some vineyards and forced winemakers to develop contingency plans for harvest.

Shed Horn Cellars, a 3,000-case winery just outside Middletown, was leveled during the fire and its owners, Michael and Adawn Wood, lost their home. The tasting room survived, along with enough inventory to fill orders, the couple said in a statement through the Lake County Winegrape Commission.

The wildfire posed the largest threat to vineyards in the county’s southeast corner, such as areas around the Guenoc Valley region southeast of Middletown.

Langtry Estate & Vineyard, the most noted winery in the area, suffered some damage to its 1,000 acres of vineyards, said Denise Roach, director of marketing of Foley Family Wines, which owns the 23,000-acre estate. She could not provide an estimate of how many acres were burnt.

Most of its vineyards escaped the fast-moving fire unscathed, said Eric Stine, winemaker for Guenoc wines, which sources its grapes from the estate. The winery’s historic building, the Lillie Langtry house, also was not damaged, but the winery was operating on generators.

Stine said he was amazed there was not further damage to the estate, noting that the blaze stopped right at the edge of many of its vineyards.

“The grapevines don’t like to burn,” Stine said. “It was pretty dramatic.”

The Valley fire is the third blaze this summer to impact the wine industry in Lake County, home to 35 wineries and more than 8,700 acres of vineyards. The Rocky fire in July and Jerusalem fire in August spewed flumes of smoke and ash over the region but did not threaten the core of the county’s vineyards, most of which are located to the west and northeast of Clear Lake.

The most recent fire, which broke out Saturday, strikes in the middle of harvest, an already frenetic time for grape growers and winemakers.

The closure of Highway 29 stopped or forced major changes in harvest around much of the Lake County, said Debra Sommerfield, president of the Lake County Winegrape Commission. The road, which connects Lake County to Calistoga, is a major thoroughfare for trucks to deliver grapes to production facilities as well as a commuter route for harvest workers.