'Wet ashtray' wine grapes have been left to birds as fires choke West Coast vineyards
- Heavy ground smoke clouded Hanson Vineyards in Oregon’s picturesque Willamette Valley for more than a week following a Labor Day windstorm that kicked up wildfires across the western United States.
The historic wildfires across the western United States, home to the bulk of the country’s vineyards and major producers of crops from apples to zucchini, have ravaged farmers and ranchers already hard hit by the Trump administration’s trade wars and demand disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic. Many tasting rooms remain shuttered due to fire and smoke risks, while grapes awaiting harvest in storied wine regions like Willamette Valley or California’s Napa and Sonoma Valleys may be damaged or ruined entirely.Oregon, Washington state and California together produce about 90% of all U.S. wine. The true impact on the $70 billion industry will not be known for months as the typical wildfire season is only just beginning, and crop damage can vary greatly from field to field.
Smoke has blanketed much of the U.S. West as fires have charred nearly 5 million acres , but some wine areas such as Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz and Monterey have been much closer to blazes than areas like Santa Barbara and Paso Robles.Laboratories that test grapes for smoke contamination are overwhelmed this year, with some taking up to a month to return results, instead of less than a week normally. Vineyards use that data to gauge whether to harvest or not.
Winemakers short of newly harvested grapes are expected to buy bulk wine from the 2019 season for blending with what is available from this year, he said. Fear of reputational risk will prevent winemakers from bottling and selling any wine with an unpleasant smoke taste, he said.
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'Wet ashtray' wine grapes left to birds as fires choke West Coast vineyardsHeavy ground smoke clouded Hanson Vineyards in Oregon's picturesque Willamette Valley for more than a week following a Labor Day windstorm that kicked up wildfires across the western United States.
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