Looks like there’s a significantly lower amt of current or potentially current fires out there (less so in the north tho), judging by the VIIRS and Modus detections fire detection maps. It’s not over yet, by a long shot, but if the current weather holds out…
Well guys, let’s plan on stocking up on 2018’s and 2019’s then and hope for the best for the 2020’s as between the heat spikes and the fires, there will be some headaches. So unfortunate but this is becoming the new normal. Europe has to deal with fall rains, bugs and mildew. We get heat spikes and fires. Pick your poison.
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The Walbridge fire burns above the Dry Creek Valley in Healdsburg on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020.
Even if the 2020 wines don’t suffer from smoke taint - most of the 2017s didn’t - it will still be a difficult year because of the heat wave last week. Seems that’s what affected the 2017s across the board.
Very few 2017 cabs, for example, were better than the same winery’s 2016s.
the 2017 fires were much later in the season. Think they were in October. Almost all the grapes except hillside fruit was picked by then. The heat spike over 2017 labor day was what messed the vintage up.
I think some of the varieties and growing areas will do fine with the current heat spike. I think the smoke is the bigger problem, although also varies a lot by local area. In 2008, it varied even within a single vineyard.
Other thing to remember is that it’s a very big state. People tend to label vintages by the outcomes of a couple of the best known areas (and their main variety), even when most of the state was different (although the fires are more widespread than usual).
-Al
I have never seen anything close to that this season here at my site. The heat wave did nothing if canopies were managed and irrigation employed. This week we are predicted not to get out of the 80s…perfect growing weather. C’mon down, walk the vineyard and do some off the vine tasting and you may post your findings. Then YOU can take me to lunch at Solage! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Merrill, per Cellartracker your 2011 seems to have more fans then the 2010, and your 2017 seems to have turned out great, so clearly you’ve mastered these “not-perfect” vintages.
I do what I can. Sometimes it is difficult to have such a small site, and at other times it’s great. It allows me to dote on every row. The vineyard is in my backyard, so it is easy to keep an eye on things. I forget your location, but if you want to come taste 2020 on the vine, holler! This goes for ALMOST anyone here. I am proud of my farming and I am proud of my product. 
"Then YOU can take me to lunch at Solage! "
Mike Kuller - just bring your wife this time. Don’t want them talking about us. And I am happy to pick up the tab…
Just kidding Merrill.
I know. But would love to see you…gets lonely out these parts.
I know of at least one vineyard in Paso Robles that is checking all of their grapes at present for smoke taint. It’s simply is too early to tell what potential damage there is. It is not fair to say that the vintage as a whole has been negatively affected In any particular region, but there certainly may be some smoke taint damage out there . . .
You can take some clusters pre-harvest and ferment them. Then check for smoke taint pre-harvest (expense).
I would never sell wine that even hints of smoke taint - not an ethical business move.
Not even close. Where in 2017 sugars quickly shot up and acids dropped, weather in 2020 so far had little bearing on sugar to acid ratios. Yes, fruit ripened sooner and pick dates were moved up about 2+ weeks earlier than in 2018 and 2019, but balance of fruit has not been affected just yet. Plenty of acidity in fruit I tasted in RRV last Tuesday, and temps since actually dropped, a lot, to low to mid 50s at night in many areas (great for retaining acidity). We thought we’ll be picking in 2 weeks (from last Tuesday), but now I think 2-3 from today. So, the curve evened out some.
Smoke taint is the only question mark in 2020, so far. And I really wish people would stop posting and painting with wide brush about things they do not really grasp. Taste more 2017s before writing most/all off in one fell swoop. Some suffered, some not, some are really good (and picked well past heat spike). If you think 2017s are bad across the board, then you didn’t buy from right producers.
If you’re just a regular wine lover guy but not an experienced winemaker or someone with equipment to make detailed measurements (other than Brix) of the grapes, could you in any sense discern that grapes at harvest time have, or have not, been affected by smoke taint?
Can you smell and/or taste it? If you don’t smell or taste it, can you feel comfortable that the wine probably won’t be tainted?
Thanks in advance to anyone with experience of that.
We’ll definitely plan a trip up next year when the plague is over. 
I’m not a winemaker although have worked in wineries. In 2008, if you picked a Ziploc bag of grapes from an affected vineyard for a Brix sample, crushed it with your hands, and left it overnight in the refrigerator, you could detect the smoke. If you had a fermentor going, it showed up pretty quickly. Some of it may get bound up in non-aromatic compounds, but not all of it. Obviously, this requires some threshold level, but I think it shows about as much during fermentation as it ever will. But, my dataset is (thankfully) not huge.
-Al
Great article on wine searcher regarding this topic.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2020/08/smoke-taint-looms-large-for-california-wine
A few useful things to remember based on some conversations I’ve been having on the ground here:
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Just because someone is testing for smoke taint, doesn’t mean the berries are tainted.
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Just because someone gets a negative result for free volatile smoke markers in berries, doesn’t mean the berries aren’t tainted (smoke compounds bound up as glycosides can be released as free compounds when the berries are turned to wine).
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Heat and smoke both affect different varieties differently, and different winemaking practices can both accentuate and limit the negative effects of both smoke and heat.
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Smoke in a vineyard doesn’t mean smoke taint. Smoke of different ages and sources will affect grapes differently.
All of which is to say: it’s complicated, and we shouldn’t be making too many assumptions about what will or won’t happen. Things aren’t great, but there will still be beautiful wine made here this year, the questions are just what, by whom, and how much?