Let’s look at some maps Last week I was in the middle of writing a post about how great this year was turning out. I thought, just as long as growers can avoid something disastrous, this could be a great vintage. Within 24 hours, the Pickett fire grew from a small blaze north of Calistoga to a towering wildfire that has since consumed 6000 acres. Of course, this comes on the heels of the Gifford fire in San Luis Obispo, which has taken out over 100k acres the week before. For some growers in Napa and Edna valley, harvest may be over before it starts. While the definitive kibosh will come from lab analysis, knowing how smokey it got and when is useful for metering expectations and determining the next step. And there are some super useful tools out there! The EPA has a wide network of air quality sensors throughout the country with varying degrees of concentration. The map below shows just how many of these stations are publicly available, so you can see where air quality is suffe

Registration Now Open – Decision Time: Preparing for the Risk Factors of Smoke & Fire Exposure

July 6, 2022 – Wine Industry Network (WIN) has opened registration for Growing Forward Webinar which is set to broadcast July 27, 2022 at 9:00am. Registration is free for wine […]

Registration is open for the Growing Forward Webinar which is set to broadcast July 27, 2022 at 9:00am. Registration is free for wine industry professionals. This webinar will focus on preparing winegrowers to make more informed decisions in the event their vineyards are impacted by fire and/or smoke. Topics will range from determining the level of risk, what should or should not be in growers’ contracts, leveraging the correct data to mitigate risk, negotiating access permits for essential jobs in the event of an evacuation, farmworker safety protocols, contingency harvest plans, and more. This session is for any grape grower looking to be better positioned in the event their grapes are at risk for smoke exposure. It will be presented by Adam Koeppel, Co-Founder & CEO of Agrology, Riggs Lokka, Vineyard Manager of Emeritus Vineyards, Anita Oberholster, Extension Specialist in Enology at the University of California, Davis and John Segale, Senior VP of Fahlgren Mortine. To reg

Decision Time: Preparing for the Risk Factors of Smoke & Fire Exposure Wildfires have become an annual concern for grape growers around the globe, bringing devastation to crops and affecting wine quality for entire vintages. WIN’s latest Growing Forward webinar will prepare winegrowers to make more informed decisions in the event their vineyards are impacted by fire and/or smoke. Topics will range from determining the level of risk, what should or should not be in growers’ contracts, leveraging the correct data to mitigate risk, negotiating access permits for essential jobs in the event of an evacuation, farmworker safety protocols, contingency harvest plans, and more. Presented by industry experts, this session is for any grape grower looking to be better positioned in the event their grapes are at risk for smoke exposure. Register here. Session Panel:  Adam Koeppel, Co-Founder & CEO / Agrology  Riggs Lokka, Assistant Vineyard Manager / Emeritus Vineyards

Claril SMK is a fining blend of selected deodorizing activated carbon, pre-activated chitosan, and pea protein developed specifically to remove smoke related off-flavors and aromas from both white and red musts and wines. This fining blend contains a steam-activated carbon that is exceptionally gentle on color and phenolics compared to other activated carbons. This allows it to be used in high dosages, on nearly any style of wine, with great effect on smoke aromas and flavors, and minimal impact on color and phenolics. More recently, Claril SMK has been applied to remediate wines with volatile phenols arising from Brettanomyces contamination with excellent results. We compared Claril SMK to Fenol Free, a separate but very effective deodorizing carbon for remediating Brettanomyces taint in wine. While not quite as effective at removal of volatile phenols as the Fenol Free, we did observe significant reduction in volatile phenols, with excellent retention of color and phenolics. Enartis

With recent fires in various parts of California and southern Oregon, we have heard concerns about smoke taint in these regions for the 2021 vintage. In an effort to support winemakers in these regions, Enartis has created two new on-demand video presentations and winemaking protocols which outline strategies for handling smoke impacted whites and reds. These videos feature a brand new fining blend developed by Enartis for remediating smoke affected musts and wines. You can download the protocols and watch the videos using the links below. Should any questions arise, do not hesitate to contact Enartis Wine Services at (707) 836-2451.  Videos Smoke Taint Remediation for White Winemaking Smoke Taint Remediation for Red Wines, Harvest 2021 Protocols Smoke Taint - Winemaking Guidelines for White Wines Smoke Taint - Winemaking Guidelines for Red Wines

TricorBraun WinePak is proud to support Unified Symposium 2021 - Tuesday General Session: Wildfires and Smoke: Managing Uncertainty and Risk

VA Filtration offers a brand-new process for the reduction of smoke taint from wine (ARC Process), removing not only the free taint creating the smoke aromatics, but also the bound taint from affected wine, eliminating the “rebound” effect.  VA Filtration currently holds US Patents* for free taint removal, as well as the nanofiltration-based processing of VA reduction. VA Filtration’s most recently developed three-pronged ARC Process has been operational since the start of 2020 and has been tracking for bounce back of taint in the wine treated to date.  Currently, we have not seen any return of the taint.  Using a combination of proprietary MWCO membrane elements and adsorption columns, the process can reduce the glycosides significantly per filtration pass. The following example analysis of a heavily tainted Syrah from 2017 Mendocino fires processed using the ARC Process indicates the new level of reduction achieved in two passes through the sys