Wine grapes are seen at a vineyard as the Pickett Fire burns on a ridge in the distance in 2025.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Napa Valley prosecutors on Thursday filed criminal charges in the Pickett Fire investigation, siding with published reports that a worker had caused the blaze that burned 6,800 acres a year ago.
But the financial ramifications from the fire, which started at Hundred Acre Winery in Calistoga and destroyed the grape crop of dozens of wineries and substantially burned one vineyard, remain uncertain.
Juan Luis Gutierrez Marfil, who a Hundred Acre spokesman said was employed as an independent contractor, faces one felony charge of recklessly causing a fire of a structure and forest. According to the charging documents, Marfil “admitted to Cal Fire Law Enforcement of the disposing of hot ashes into a burn pile, which caused the Pickett Fire.”
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The announcement comes at a time when more than 30 small winery and vineyard owners impacted by the fire are struggling to recover about $90 million they say they lost.
Only one wine company has received compensation from Hundred Acre and its owner, Jayson Woodbridge. PlumpJack Group, co-founded by Gov. Gavin Newsom, lost 60 of the 129 acres of vines at the company’s Oso Vineyard in the remote Pope Valley region, managing director John Conover previously told the Chronicle.
One other winery lost an acre of vines; the others’ grapes suffered extensive smoke damage.
PlumpJack did not disclose the sum of the settlement.
“We are grateful to put this matter behind us,” the PlumpJack Group said in a statement. “As the only vineyard involved in this case to experience burn damage, we were not surprised to be among the first to reach a resolution.”
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The Pickett Fire burned 6,800 acres and destroyed the grape crop of dozens of wineries.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
The connection to Newsom has raised eyebrows among the other wineries.
“I really felt uncomfortable with that,” Ed Snider, a vineyard owner and retired winemaker, said of the settlement. Snider said he “lost everything” because of the fire, including his vineyard, home and income stream. “It pretty much left me penniless at 65.”
“I don’t know what connections or motivations the defendant would have,” said John Cadieux, an attorney with the San Diego firm Singleton Schrieber, which is representing the 30 wineries and vineyards, “but certainly I’d imagine (Newsom’s connection) played a part.”
The PlumpJack Group denied “any speculation that Newsom was involved in the settlement process.” Newsom put his ownership interest in PlumpJack into a blind trust when he became governor, the company said, and the wineries operate “without any oversight from him or his office.”
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Tensions are high among the other wineries that fear Woodbridge’s insurance will not cover the $90 million. The group represented by firm Singleton Schreiber, which claims the largest fire litigation practice in the country, has not yet filed suit. Three other wine companies are already suing Hundred Acre.
Paul Starita, another lawyer from Singleton Schreiber, said the new criminal charges don’t impact the legal strategy with Woodbridge. “The fire started on their property by a contractor that they hired,” he said.
Cadieux said the firm is “concerned” that the damages are “going to far exceed the resources of this defendant,” as Woodbridge is not “a giant corporation or investor owned utility,” like PG&E, which have produced “billion-dollar settlements.”
Woodbridge, the Napa Valley vintner and founder of Hundred Acre Wines, whose cult Cabernet retails for upwards of $700 a bottle, declined to comment on the settlement.
The Napa County District Attorney’s office filed criminal charges on Aug. 27 in the Pickett Fire investigation.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
The settlement coincides with Newsom’s recent push for legislation that he says would ensure wildfire survivors are compensated before other groups, such as insurance companies, lawyers and utility shareholders, but that critics say would limit liabilities for utility companies if they cause a wildfire.
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“One of the things that’s completely shocking to me is the governor’s efforts to make recovery for fire victims even more difficult,” Starita said. “If you do not hold people accountable, they will continue to do what they’ve done, resulting in more lives being destroyed.”
Newsom’s office did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment.
During the first year of Newsom’s gubernatorial term, which followed the deadly 2018 Camp Fire that put PG&E on the brink of bankruptcy, the governor worked to create the California Wildfire Fund, a $21 billion reserve that helps utilities companies pay wildfire claims. After the 2025 Los Angeles fires, Newsom said that the fund, widely criticized as a bailout program, is in danger of running out.
The Pickett Fire, which started Aug. 21, 2025, at 2339 Pickett Road in Calistoga, caused at least $65 million in agricultural damage, according to the preliminary assessment survey Napa County conducted roughly a week later. The survey reported damage to nearly 1,500 acres, or more than 3% of Napa Valley’s farmland.
Marfil also faces a “special allegation” that he destroyed property in the commission of a felony, which could add additional prison time if convicted, according to court documents. Marfil is due in court for a hearing Sept. 9.
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Wine grapes accounted for the majority of the damage; this was largely due to smoke taint, which occurs when wildfire smoke penetrates the grapes, leaving chemical compounds that produce unpleasant, smoke-like flavors in finished wines. Robert Craig Winery president Elton Slone, said smoke taint damaged his entire 2025 crop, an estimated $7 million loss. (Robert Craig is also the other winery that lost one acre of vines.) The fire “has been horrifically damaging to us financially and as a brand,” Slone said. “Currently, there is not a clear end in sight.”
There are other factors that could further reduce a potential Singleton Schreiber settlement, including a significant cut — typically 25% to 40% — that the firm takes out of any payout.
A firefighting aerial tanker releases retardant on a ridge during the Pickett Fire.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Earlier this month, the three other wine companies separately sued Hundred Acre Wines over smoke taint after their own settlement negotiations failed. One of those companies is Outpost Wines, a prestigious Cabernet brand owned by French conglomerate AXA Millésimes.
Woodbridge’s spokesperson Sam Singer claimed a settlement was not reached because those companies “didn’t provide sufficient data to us that, in our opinion, would demonstrate a valid claim of damage.”
In response, the plaintiff’s attorney, Daniel Reidy of Reidy Law Group, said that during recent mediation hearings, his clients, and many others impacted by the fire, “provided significant data in good faith, including lab test reports, analyses of those reports by smoke damage experts, sensory tasting by several of Napa Valley’s most respected winemakers, and detailed financials showing the damages suffered as a direct result of the fire.”
“Mr. Woodbridge responded by employing a throw-everything-against-the-wall strategy, even accusing fire claimants of intentionally dumping their 2025 vintages due to a down wine market, and instead looking to Mr. Woodbridge to cover their losses,” Reidy continued. “That is the type of nonsense everyone faced before our clients chose to file this lawsuit and let a court decide.”
Cal Fire, which is primarily funded through taxpayer dollars, could also pursue reimbursement of its suppression costs. During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Cal Fire received $192 million from civil actions related to 16 wildland fires, according to an annual report on its Civil Cost Recovery Program. A large portion of that came from a $69 million settlement reached for the cost of suppressing the 2019 Kincaid Fire in Sonoma County, during which Cal Fire claimed to have expended $90 million. Cal Fire pursues smaller payouts, too: Just last month, the department sued a Redding cement company for $2.8 million over the 2023 Wonder Fire in Shasta County, which Cal Fire determined was started by a poorly maintained locomotive.
If Cal Fire files a claim for the Pickett Fire, it will “obviously result in less money going into the pocket of the victims of the fire” Cadieux said. “Think about what goes into suppressing a fire — air tankers, crews on the ground, bulldozers — all that equipment is very expensive.”
“It is seriously looking like no one will be made whole,” Heather Griffin, co-owner of Summit Lake Vineyards, said. “If Cal Fire decides to file a claim, in addition to all of us that have already filed, I can imagine it will leave all of us with no compensation whatsoever.” Summit Lake lost all of its grapes to smoke taint in the Pickett Fire, and Griffin said the losses total more than $2 million. “We are all massively devastated financially from this fire,” Griffin said. Randy Dunn, co-founder of Howell Mountain’s Dunn Vineyards, said he’d “be very surprised if Cal Fire litigated, stating, ‘it’s not good PR.’ Nevertheless, his expectations for a payout are low.
“Our initial claim was $8 million,” he said. “I’ll be surprised if we get $8,000.”
Lucy Hodgman contributed to this report.
