It’s only been a month since the Pine Gulch Fire ravaged 140,000 acres of land just north of Grand Junction. California, Oregon, and New Mexico have also suffered widespread fires this fall, and while recovery efforts are in full swing, wine drinkers have another concern: How will the 2020 vintage be impacted by the smoke?
Smoke taint can severely impact a wine. Unlike smoky characteristics imparted from toasted oak barrels, smoke-tainted wines are often described as tasting burnt or medicinal. The grapes are exposed to smoke, but the residue can’t just be rinsed off; burning wood releases aroma compounds that can permeate the grape skins. The impact of smoke doesn’t impact white wines as much as reds, since those aroma compounds are concentrated in the skins, and whites don’t sit on their skins to ferment like reds do.
Wines become smoke-tainted when thick smoke stays towards the ground level and makes direct contact with the grapes. Luckily for us and other vineyards on the western slope, the smoke in Palisade and Grand Junction was mostly atmospheric, meaning it stayed higher in the air. Although the Colorado wildfire season has not yet come to a close, almost all of our grapes have been picked, so we feel fortunate to not have any issues with smoke impacting our crop.
We have also had excellent weather during harvest. As of now, there is no freeze risk like we had in October last year. It’s been warm (but not hot) for most of harvest season, which means grapes haven’t over-ripened. We can pick grapes on our own schedule based on flavor, as opposed to picking them because we need to. The challenge this year is that our crop load is down due to the early freeze a year go. While the quantity will be lower, the ideal weather means the quality will be higher. We are looking forward to a fantastic, smoke-free vintage!
