Oregon and Washington are no strangers to seasonal wildfires. In fact, they seem to be on the rise. Does this affect our grapes and the flavor of the wine they produce? YES! The latest studies on how wildfires impact wine, has found that smoke from these fires are causing brutal effects on our precious wine grapes and leading to problems in the wine industry. The smoke from wildfires is absorbed by the grapes and can produce an unpleasant taste known as “smoke taint” in wines made from the smoke affected grapes. The current “best,” research on smoke taint, has been done at the Australian Wine Research Institute, and their researchers have identified an array of compounds that could be detected in affected grapes and wines, and used as “biomarkers” of smoke taint. This study also found that most US labs used by the wine industry were not performing adequate measurements. The design of this new study can now be applied to grapes and wines from California and Oregon. We can only imagine that this research will help save endless dollars and protect the wine industry from catastrophic repercussions as climate change impacts our world. Join us on A Great Oregon Wine Tour – www.agreatoregonwinetour.com
Wine and Wildfires
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