What do you think of when you hear someone's doing small-batch fermentation of wine? Probably, a garage or home winemaker comes to mind. Maybe a small urban or boutique winery.
In the fall of 2020, small-batch fermentation is a trend that sweeping even large commercial wineries in Willamette Valley and other parts of Oregon, Washington, and even California. And they are doing it out of necessity rather than fun like home winemakers would.
Wildfires and Smoke
In early September, the heavy smoke from wildfires covered almost all of Oregon for over a week, as discussed in our article Oregon, Wildfire, Smoke, Grapes, and Vineyards. To make matters worse, it happened close to harvest, and it may have devastating consequences for many vineyards and wineries due to possible "smoke taint" in wine.
What is Smoke Taint
Smoke taint means that wine can acquire undesirable aromas and flavors, such as burned rubber, bacon, disinfectant, or wet ashtray. Few wine lovers, if any, would enjoy, and no winemaker wants to make such wine.
Looking for Smoke
Suppose there was a smoke event at the vineyards before harvest, winemakers need to test whether smoke impacted grapes. The trick is you can't taste smoke in grape before it turns into wine.
One way to check for it is to collect berries from all over the vineyard and send it to the lab to test for taint. Another way is to harvest some grapes, make small batches of wine, and taste it for undesirable aromas and flavors.
Ideally, winemakers would like to test grapes at the lab. However, because smoke affected so many West Coast wine regions, there's a long backlog at the labs, and time is something winemakers don't have because the grapes may overripen while they wait for the results.
Small Batch Fermentation
That's why many winemakers turned to small-batch fermentation to assess how much grapes affected by smoke and whether they can make high-quality wine in 2020. A lot will depend on where the grapes come from because there are so many micro-climates in different parts of Oregon, Washington, and California. All those hills and valleys can separate ok wines from don't even try it.
Based on our conversation with the Willamette Valley wineries staff, some winemakers decided not to make Pinot Noir in 2020 because their grapes were affected by smoke so much. Others said they had better luck and will make some wine.
In any case, the 2020 vintage likely to be the smallest harvest on record for many wineries. At this challenging time, one way we can support local winemakers by purchasing their wine now. Please follow our example and buy wine from local wineries in the Pacific Northwest to help them get through 2020.
Keep following us for updates on how smoke affected the 2020 vintage in Oregon and Washington.