Ha! And I had a photo class with an assignment on Motion. This gave me ideas.
I enjoyed it too. Thanks for posting as I would have never seen it.
I have to say, I was surprised by that Wine Searcher piece. Kind of strange when such high profile and respected individuals air their dirty laundry that way. It’s surely their right, but I was taken aback by that. My own personal take on it is that the PR on that whole thing was handled poorly.Or not at all, and the winemaker and owners took the story rogue. Not a great look for those involved, but I don’t fault them for their passionate stances.
As to smoke taint, one of the most poignant tasting experiences of my life so far was tasting the 2008 Morning Dew Pinot with Burt Williams. It was a bit smoky in the nose, but maintained such vibrancy. No bitterness in the finish. Alas, I believe that little wine told the story of the vintage.
There is a lot of peer pressure in the Napa Valley to not release the 2020’s,…even the ones that are quite nice. It’s bad optics, is the consensus by many.
What to do?
So far, I’ve had quite a few 2020’s…reds in labs or out of the barrel. My takeaway is that most wine drinkers, myself included, might not identify smoke taint in a lot of the 2020’s. They might find them a little flat or bland, or a little bitter on the their end, but had I not known I was drinking smoke tainted wines, I may have identified them as slightly bretty.
It’s a really tough time financially for a lot of wineries impacted by the wildfires. To be cavalier about what they’re going through is kind of shitty behavior, in my mind.
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I had one 2020 Oregon Chardonnay from a producer I have been drinking for about or so 20 years. Not the most expensive place, but not the cheapest either. Cellar tracker has it at 83% like it. I put a dislike as maybe it is partial loss to the whole batch, but it really has me gun shy on 2020. So not wanting to advertise to the world as others seem to enjoy it. Maybe a bad section?
My wife put it best - like drinking at a camp fire. Smoke infused bourbon at a bar when you want it is one thing. But this had a campfire undertone like you were drinking outside around an open camp fire. If that is what you are doing, you will not notice at all.
Near the end of the bottle it may have dissipated a bit. Maybe the alcohol was having its intended effect by then. Maybe if we decanted for an hour and then got it back to white wine temp it could be OK, but I will avoid 2020 from smoke areas unless I get a firm story on the smoke vs picking.
I find it interesting that you picked up smoke off a white wine. For 2020, a lot of OR producers released only whites or made Rose and “Blanc de Noir” under the thinking that minimal skin contact would avoid the worse of the smoke taint. I have had around a half dozen of these and not picked up any smoke. I have no idea of these could have been made with pre-smoke harvest.
Yeah, surprised me too. My wife has the “super sniffer” in the house so she picks up on these things and once you notice it, it’s prevalent. That’s why the cellar tracker probably has it right and some have it and I may have gotten unlucky. Maybe worth an experiment of a second bottle.
Wow! Phil is really aging well! He was already a chemistry professor when I was a chem major at UCSC’s Crown College. Don’t remember if I actually took any classes from him, but it was the 70’s so don’t remember much…. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Sounds like the winemaker wanted it publicly known that she didn’t make the wine and the winery owners tried to damage control. Totally understand the winemakers position, they have a reputation to protect.
“…but I don’t fault them for their passionate stances.”
I know this discussion is largely about Napa Valley Cabernet - in which I have little interest - but it was interesting to taste wines from about 40 Santa Cruz Mountains winemakers last weekend, since that region was seriously affected by fire / smoke in 2020 as well. So it didn’t surprise me that few producers poured 2020 red wines, though more poured 2020 whites and rosés. But of the 2020 reds I tasted, I didn’t detect even a hint of smoke taint, and I’m pretty sensitive to it - in fact, a couple of the 2020 Pinots were among my favorites that day. I think a lot depended on the vineyard location and other factors as to whether the smoke affected the fruit and the resulting wines.
I certainly know of Santa Cruz Mountains producers who will not be releasing their usual 2020 reds due to the smoke issues of that vintage, but based on this tasting, I would not hesitate to buy 2020s from those Santa Cruz Mountains producers who I have experience with and trust not to release smoke-tainted wine.
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Well, now it’s in everyone’s head and when you’re slinging $200+ Cabs from Napa, the second-guessing is here to stay.
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You read that NY Times article and the world is coming to an end. I call that the “Chicken Little” affect.
There is no doubt that temperature shifts are happening.
Thankfully I have plenty of wine…
Interesting read for those who like the technical details.
Looks like Diamond Creek is releasing a limited offering of their cab for 2020, from parts of the vineyard picked before the Glass fire.
In the interest of some data points: I went to the Ceritas open house last weekend and tasted the 2020 Zephyr and Carex Chardonnays and the Annabelle, Chloe, and Occidental Pinots and all were clean as a whistle and totally delicious.
Peter Michael has a full slate of 2020 wines to release in July.
Is the consensus that smoke taint is immediately detectable and does not hide and show up in the future?
Here’s one more data point, albeit not as specific as one might want to see:
Laura Ness writes about the recently completed Central Coast Wine Competition (I know, it’s not 'NorCal but it seems relevant here) and discusses smoke taint in wines judged:
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Ouch!
I second Spottswoode, I had a lengthly conversation with Beth about it, zero worried and will buy their 2020 (note I represent them in Quebec), I did get to taste Dalla Valle 2020 no obvious signs and will be a buyer (I represent them as well),