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Where There's Smoke
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Where There's Smoke

In the Okanagan, reports Paloma Pacheco, wine and wildfires make for a problematic pairing.

Paloma Pacheco
Maisonnueve, 2022
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Winemakers in British Columbia – and worldwide – are dealing with wildfires and climate change, journalist Paloma Pacheco reports for Maisonnueve. Vineyards that survive fires face the issue of smoke-tainted grapes that leave an ashy taste in the wine. Now vintners and researchers are seeking solutions. Some vintners are leaning into the taint by aging slightly harmed wine in oak barrels. Others are handpicking grapes, sectioning vineyards to identify areas with the most smoke damage and using reverse osmosis to try to eliminate any smoky taste. While other impacts of wildfires and climate change are even worse,  fires gravely threaten the wine industry, just like everything else in their path.

Summary

Wildfires in British Columbia have forced vintners to adapt and innovate.

In August 2020, Blasted Church Vineyards was in the path of a wildfire in British Columbia. Head winemaker Evan Saunders knew that even if the fire spared the vines, the smoke could ruin his grapes. Changes in climate, from long droughts to mild winters and spring frosts, are affecting vineyards worldwide. Wildfires are forcing vintners in western Canada’s wine-making region to innovate.

For millennia, people have enjoyed wine and its mythology, but at its core, wine is an agricultural crop. For the more than 200 wineries in the “heart of West Coast Canadian wine country,” the Okanagan Valley, summers of record-breaking heat followed by wildfires have taken a heavy toll. In 2021å, the amount of acreage burned in British Columbia was the third highest on record.

Smoke can leach “smoky compounds” known as volatile phenols into grapes on the vine. This can cause the wine from those grapes to taste ashy. Winemakers in British Columbia’s $2.8 billion-a-year wine and tourism industry are finding inventive ways to deal with the new ...

About the Author

Vancouver-based journalist Paloma Pacheco writes for The Globe and Mail.

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