35 Wine Entities Sue Over Pickett Fire Smoke Taint

Hundred Acre Wines and its owner, Jayson Woodbridge, are being sued by at least 35 wine-related entities over the start and lasting effects of the Pickett Fire, which started Aug. 21, 2025, and burned more than 10 square miles of Napa County over 17 days.

“As a result of defendants’ negligent, reckless, and intentional conduct, the fire quickly spread out of defendants’ control,” according to a complaint filed Nov. 5 in Napa County Superior Court. “It burned more than 6,800 acres, damaged or destroyed multiple structures and improvements, and catastrophically impacted the local wine-making industry by decimating plaintiffs’ 2025 grape harvest.”

The financial loss to the wine industry was $56 million plus $1`.7 million for other agricultural commodities and farm buildings.

A spokesman for Woodbridge and Hundred Acre Wines noted the Napa County district attorney charged a gardener with starting the first. The gardener reportedly admitted to CalFire investigators he disposed of hot ashes into a burn pile, sparking the fire.

The new complaint places direct responsibility on Woodbridge, alleging he directed employees to clean up brush and debris around the properties, which were to host an unpermitted wedding that weekend. Woodbridge that asked at least one employee to light the debris in a burn pit, and when he refused, asked the gardener to do it.

Woodbridge's spokesman denied that account.

The complaint claims there is video evidence showing the gardener scraping ashes from a newly built fireplace into a plastic bucket and then dumping them onto the debris in the burn pit.

The complaint also cites previous disputes between Woodbridge and the county, saying, "It is clear from his various disputes with the County that Woodbridge does not believe its ordinances and regulations should apply to him and routinely flouts their requirements.”