Napa Fire Update

Anyone know if they have the fire under control and if it effected any wineries? Will there be a smoke taint issue like 2008 for some or is it too early to tell?

There aren’t many wineries out that way that I can think of, it seems like it will affect vineyards near Winters more than Napa. Out there is Neyers and Nichelini but the fire seems still further NE of them.

The wine is blowing towards the NE and away from Napa. It’s amazing how visible the smoke is from so far away.

I’m no expert in Napa County border lines, but based on my drives out there and how the aerial photos look it seems like more of a Solano/Yolo county issue.

I don’t mean to discount the problems that this fire can cause, but people only seem interested if it’s in Napa.

Thanks Nolan. I hope everyone is safe up that way.

http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1148

Based on the location of the fire and prevailing wind direction I don’t think there will be much of an issue with grapes. The '08 smoke taint was from much more massive smoke cover. These fires like the current Napa one are, unfortunately, kind of common.

Couple small communities evacuated. Not much structure damage so far. Cooler weather for the next couple days should help. There was a constant stream of Cal Fire planes going in and out of the Santa Rosa airport yesterday.

Last I heard was 5% contained.

This photo Carole Meredith posted on her Facebook feed from her property on Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley in the foreground:

  1. Smoke taint doesn’t occur this late in the growing season.
  2. The fire is East of the Valley and weather goes east. It won’t come West.
  3. Weather conditions are favorable for fighting the fire. Deep marine layer. Low winds.

I hope the grapes at Dominus aren’t hurt by any of this.

Davis (east of the mountains where the fire is burning) was covered in smoke yesterday. I woke up to an ash-covered car today. The winds have been blowing the smoke and ash into Yolo County to the east. Driving in from Sacramento yesterday, where the sky was still blue, it looked like a dark cloud was sitting over Davis/Winters. Pretty eerie.
smoke in davis.PNG

  1. Brian, where you get that info from? For red wines, why should it matter when smoke is deposited on the skins?
    2/3) true right now, let’s hope they get it completely under control before the predicted heat wave next week, which generally means a shift in wind pattern to be east to west.
  1. Brian, where you get that info from? For red wines, why should it matter when smoke is deposited on the skins?

Alan, it was posted here by winemakers and growers with regard to the 2008 Mendocino fires. They said taint happens during fruit set not after. Look it up.

I thought smoke was absorbed into the grape skins mostly during veraison…which is now for many/most vineyards.

My memory is that joe Webb once posted that it was smoke before verasion but I could be remembering wrong

I’m skeptical that the stage of the grapes makes much difference in smoke compounds landing on and adhering to grape skins, but maybe there is something more complicated that I’m unaware of. Not sure how often growers get experience with this, so I’m also wondering if there is some “conventional wisdom” out there guiding them.

Here is the thread I was half remembering:

Last year I got grapes that were blanketed by smoke a couple days and at first I thought I might have noticed some taint but I was just imagining things in the long run. I just tasted that wine today in fact and zero smoke taint

Berry, from one of the posts in that thread:

-after veraison smoke could also cause problem. Important is also that smoke compounds are accumulating with repeated exposures.

Important to note too that 2008 Mendocino was very heavy smoke that lasted quite a long time.

The question of when are grapes more susceptible is an interesting one. Possibly if it’s a matter of particulates and ash settling on the skin after fruit set, then that can be washed off more easily? I don’t think it’s common to wash grapes but truth is I don’t know much.

Fortunately Napa is completely clear for now, and hopefully it stays that way.

The Australian’s have done a fair amt of research on smoke taint, sadly because they’ve had lots of opportunities to do so. That’s where the veraison-smoke taint connection came from. And it wasn’t due to smoke particles being more likely to hit the grape Alan…it’s that the grapes are most able to absorb the smoke particles. Barry might be right that it’s before veraison (or after?)…will have to look up articles.

This has been my assumption. The skins soften as part of the veraison to ripening process. I have assumed that absorption into the skins is dangerous when they are soft. But I am an expert in absolutely nothing.

Lots of smoke and ash to the east here in the Sacramento area. Yesterday was pretty bad, today not as much as it seems to be disappearing a bit. This was last night around 7pm, thick cloud of smoke settling in.

Whoa, Tyler, that is an amazing pic.

Update… I was in St Helena today and didn’t notice anything at all. A total non-issue for wineries in the valley.