As the LNU Lightning Complex continues to expose Northern California vineyards to fire and ash, Yolo County winemakers worry their grapes may be affected by smoke taint.
Nicole Salengo, a winemaker with Berryessa Gap Vineyards in Winters, says this wildfire is closer, larger and smokier than any she’s every witnessed. Salengo’s panic first set in when a record-setting heat wave took over the area. Excessive heat and sun are dangerous for wine harvests, as they can impact sugars and acidity negatively.
Then came the lightning strikes and, finally, fire. As of Saturday afternoon, the LNU Lightning Complex fires have burned through 373,324 acres and are 41% contained, according to Cal Fire. The complex fires have been burning through Yolo, Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties for 11 days.
“It’s terrifying,” Salengo said. “I live in town and it’s just really sad. I know people who have lost their homes. The fires just seem to last longer.”
For Salengo and other local winemakers, the threat of smoke taint — which is what happens to wine when vineyards and grapes are exposed to smoke — grows every year.
Dan Cederquist, head winemaker at the Matchbook Wine Company in Zamora, has been in the business for over 30 years. He says that at its worst, smoke tainted wines can have a flavor or smell similar to that of a wet ashtray or cigarette butts.
“Do you ever go to a smoky bar and you smell your clothes when you come home?” Cederquist asked. “It’s that kind of a smell in the wine.”
As the potential for wildfires exacerbates world-wide, wineries are experimenting with new technology, like compound testing and filtration systems. This may be especially important for Yolo County, where wine grapes are a hot crop, ranking No. 2 for top commodities and providing over $108 million in sales, according to the 2019 Crop Report.
“It seems like we’re dealing with (smoke taint) every single year now,” Cederquist said. “And we have got to get better at detecting it. Find the industry standards for how it’s quantified.”
This year, both Salengo and Cederquist admit they were lucky in terms of harvest timing.
Berryessa had already completed their white harvest for the season, with yields higher than last year by an average of 15%. For the red grape varietals that still need picking, Salengo says she’s hopeful, as these tend to have thicker skins.
Matchbook has already harvested their chardonnay, and Cederquist says that unless the winds change, he doesn’t think the red harvest will be too impacted.
But for grapes that may have been affected, quantifying smoke taint is no easy task. According to Wine Spectator Magazine, when wood burns, aroma compounds called volatile phenols are released in the air and can permeate grape skins, bonding with the sugars inside to form molecules called glycosides.
The problem is that the process may render the phenols “no longer volatile,” which means that the smokiness may not be detected until fermentation, or worse, after the wine has been bottled.
According to a UC Davis article, grapes are most susceptible to smoke taint from the time the grapes start to ripen – known as veraison — to harvest.
Cederquist is interested in new filtration systems being developed by the industry. These systems may have the ability to remove smoke compounds from the grapes. Matchbook has one of these machines but has not tried to treat their wines yet.
“This area I think still needs to be worked on and perfected,” Cederquist admitted. “This industry has a lot to do and to learn on several different levels. How do we deal with smoke taint and quantify it? How do we remove it?”
For Berryessa, protection against smoke taint meant sending over grapes to a laboratory for testing. Laboratories look primarily for two compounds in the grape skin to determine smoke taint: guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol.
Salengo will also be trying different treatments, like using fruit-forward yeast and adding nanoproteins to fatten and sweeten the wines.
“We just want to make the wine as big as possible,” Salengo said. “If there is that smoke flavor, it will be competing with a lot of other flavors in the wine.”
The Link LonkAugust 30, 2020 at 06:30PM
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Winemakers look to protect grapes against smoke taint during fire season - Woodland Daily Democrat
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