Tainted Love, Part 2

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Written By Jillian Riley

So, You’ve Got Smoke Taint. . .

Words by Jillian Riley, Art by John Hatherly

Words by Jillian Riley, Art by John Hatherly

Over the past 10 years, wildfires have become the new normal for Northern California. After this year’s devastating fires ravaged not only parts of California wine country, but also Oregon and Washington, many in the wine industry are wondering if this will be an issue with which they contend in years to come. While there can certainly be property damage and destruction, the broader issue for wineries is smoke taint. Many are now finding out what their options are if their grapes are, in fact, damaged.


Mitigation

As we discussed in part 1 of Tainted Love, there are certain additives or winemaking techniques that can help to mitigate the effects of smoke damage. However, many of these are still experimental, and there is certainly no panacea.

Insurance

Many wonder if wineries unable to ensure quality have insurance as recourse. For those who own wineries, the most common type of insurance is winery insurance, which will not cover fruit that comes into the winery damaged, but rather covers the physical property onsite. Those who own vineyards typically have a crop insurance policy, which covers the bare bones cost of growing the grapes. Many of the policies require the fruit be left on the vine to collect such insurance. Thus, the vineyard owner or winery purchasing the grapes must make a decision based on initial testing of the fruit. Should they choose to endeavor in trying to make the wine, collecting insurance will no longer be a viable option. Additionally, they will have incurred costs associated with picking and transporting the grapes, along with production of the wine.

Return to Sender

For wineries who buy their grapes from vineyard owners, as is frequently the case in Napa Valley, their contracts may include a clause in the case of damaged fruit. However, there really is no standard for this clause. Smoke damage is still a relatively new phenomenon, and the verbiage can be vague, leaving winery and vineyard owner to debate whether or not the contract allows the winery to “refuse” the grapes.

These conversations do not exist in a vacuum. Many wineries have had relationships with vineyard owners for 20 years+. They have to weigh the benefits versus disadvantages of potentially damaging that relationship and the opportunity for a renewed contract to allow them to continue purchasing the grapes. Should a winery refuse to purchase grapes potentially damaged by smoke, they may be putting their future ability to work with the vineyard on the line.

This year, many wineries have refused fruit, often leaving it to hang on the vine, so the vineyard owner can at least collect the crop insurance. Driving through the valley and seeing so much fruit shriveling on the vine, one can’t help but wonder if it could have had the potential to make good wine. In these cases, we’ll never know.

We encountered one vineyard that faced this precise scenario. The vineyard, owned by a retired couple who farm the land themselves, and located in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma, typically sells grapes to 5 different wineries. This vintage, 4 out of 5 refused to purchase the fruit because initial testing for smoke taint was inconclusive.

Bulk 

This is likely what we will see the most of this year. Many reputable wineries are making wine and deciding it is not worth risking their reputations to sell wines that may show more and more flaws over time. As such, they are selling the wine to larger, sometimes conglomerate wineries to bottle under their own labels. This is a good reason to avoid big box wine from this vintage, from a consumer standpoint.

Abort Mission

There are those wineries convinced from the get-go that grapes will be flawed, so investing the time, labor, and supplies needed to produce the wine simply isn’t worth it. Such was the case with Brooks Winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The winery made the difficult decision not to release a 2020 vintage. They are donating a portion of proceeds from certain wine sales to help reduce hardship to the wine growers with whom they have long-term relationships.

One thing is certain. Wineries in the Pacific Northwest are struggling this year. It takes a winery 10 years on average to break even from their investment. Overhead is high, and the risks are becoming more and more dramatic with each passing vintage. If we want to keep small growers and small wineries around, we have to support them.

What can you do? Go to your local wine shop. Buy a bottle (or 12) from a small producer in Washington, Oregon, or California. Instagram it. Tell your friends!


Here are a few small wineries that we love! This list is by no means all-inclusive, but it will get you headed in the right direction.

Jillian Riley
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Dispatches From the Dirt:Unwarranted Optimism