Friday, March 18, 2022
CapitalPress.com 5
Smoke impacts on wine unequal, experts say
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Smoke isn’t
an equal opportunity offender for
wine grapes, with flavor impacts
depending on the varietal as well
as the fire’s proximity, experts say.
Reverse osmosis filtration
and other processes can mitigate
the smoke’s effects, though they
come with their own costs for the
finished wine, according to speak-
ers at the Oregon Wine Sympo-
sium in Portland on March 8.
“We took a wine that would not
be usable and made it usable,”
said winemaker Brian Gruber.
“The biggest drawback is we
made a wine that would not stand
on its own.”
Gruber worked at a custom
crush wine facility in 2020, when
more than 1 million acres of Ore-
gon forestland were consumed
by fire and smoke blanketed the
state’s Willamette Valley.
The consequences of smoke
exposure were immediately
noticeable in the grapes, Gruber
said. “This tasted like cherry bar-
becue sauce in the bin, before we
even started fermenting.”
Pinot noir, Cabernet franc and
Grenache appear to suffer from
the most noticeable effects of
smoke taint, though it can affect
any varietal, he said.
Smoke that recently origi-
nated from a nearby fire is more
damaging than older smoke from
a more distant blaze, he said.
It’s also more likely to harm
flavors in grapes that are nearing
harvest than those that are imma-
ture, he said.
Through the reverse osmo-
sis process, Gruber separated the
water and alcohol from the other
elements that impart flavor, tex-
ture and aroma to wine.
That water and alcohol were
then run through a carbon filter to
reduce the effects of smoke taint,
he said.
“It’s a gentle way of split-
ting your wine and just treat-
ing the part that’s a problem,” he
said. “You’re breaking it apart,
so you’re trying not to touch the
good stuff.”
During the process, some of
the tannins and other positive ele-
ments are lost, resulting in a less
robust wine that tasted “thinner,”
Gruber said.
However, the when blended at
a rate of 5% with wine that wasn’t
harmed by smoke, the treated
wine was successfully salvaged,
he said.
“Wildfires aren’t going away,
so it’s just how we’re going to
deal with them in the future,” said
Brandon Moss, a winemaker in the
Walla Walla region of Washington.
Moss said he encountered
grapes in 2020 that didn’t come
into contact with smoke as dense
as that in Oregon.
The impacts from smoke taint
didn’t become apparent until near
the end of fermentation, he said.
“It was pretty promising at first
and went downhill quickly from
there.”
That wine was also filtered
with reverse osmosis, resulting in
an “innocuous” red wine that had
lost some of its character, Moss
said.
“Some people are more sensi-
tive than others and I err on the
side of making the wine clean,”
though as a “blender,” the treated
wine “100% works,” he said.
While all smoke contains com-
pounds that are harmful to wine,
the fumes from “cars and build-
ings” are particularly “gross,”
said Elizabeth Tomasino, associ-
ate professor and sensory analyst
who studies wine at Oregon State
University.
Isolating which types of
smoke are especially damag-
ing is under study at OSU, she
said. “We’re looking to track
which compounds are really the
problem.”
The university is also exam-
ining films that can be sprayed
on grapes to resist smoke taint,
which imparts the taste of an ash
tray, she said.
A method of testing for smoke
taint that doesn’t require fermen-
tation would benefit the wine
industry, Tomasino said. To that
end, OSU is searching for “mark-
ers” that would indicate grapes
are impacted.
The university is renovating a
laboratory to specialize in smoke
analysis and expects to learn a
lot more about smoke taint in the
next two to three years, Toma-
sino said.
“All this goes into risk man-
agement,” she said.
OSU Extension offers new course on agritourism
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
The Oregon State University
Extension Service is starting a new
online training course this year
for farmers statewide interested in
starting or expanding agritourism
ventures.
The purpose of the course is
twofold. First, it is to help produc-
ers explore new opportunities for
generating income. Second, it is to
help them avoid common pitfalls
of agritourism.
“As a participant, you will
learn about the types of agricul-
tural tourism and determine if it
is a good fit for your whole farm
business,” said Melissa Fery, asso-
ciate professor of practice with the
Small Farms Program and one of
the program’s instructors.
Agritourism is on the rise in
Oregon. Many farmers say it is
an opportunity to make additional
income, boost a farm’s popularity
and expose urbanites to farm life.
However, agritourism also car-
ries risks and costs. According to
Jim Johnson, land use and water
planning coordinator at the state
Department of Agriculture, com-
Audrey
Comerford
Melissa
Fery
Courtesy of Audrey Comerford
An agritourism farm stand by County Line Flowers in Harrisburg, Ore.
mon challenges in agritourism
include land use violations, per-
mitting problems, unhappy neigh-
bors and liability issues sometimes
escalating to litigation.
The new training course was
designed in part to help farmers
navigate or avoid these issues.
The course was funded by a
grant from USDA’s National Insti-
tute of Food and Agriculture man-
aged by the Western Center for
Risk Management Education.
The curriculum was created by
OSU Extension instructors Audrey
Comerford, agritourism coordina-
tor, and Fery, of the Small Farms
Program.
“We felt agritourism is an oppor-
tunity for farmers, but there’s also a
lot that goes into decision-making,
including laws and regulations,”
said Fery. “We wanted farmers and
ranchers that are considering some
kind of agritourism to be able to do
so on a correct pathway.”
The online course, Fery said,
will be self-paced so that farm-
ers can complete it at their
convenience.
The curriculum includes text,
videos and worksheets about man-
aging risk, understanding legal
requirements, marketing farm
businesses effectively, hospitality
and customer service. Farmers will
also have the opportunity to con-
sult with course instructors.
Fery said OSU plans to offer
the course long-term and even-
tually hopes to make it available
year-round, but for the first year,
the course is only open to new par-
ticipants this spring. The deadline
to register for the 2022 course is
March 31.
The cost is $20, which pays for
maintenance of the website learn-
ing platform. Scholarships are
available upon request.
Fery said she’s excited about the
opportunity for farms to expand or
begin successful agritourism enter-
prises. There are many possibili-
ties, she said, ranging from a crop
farm selling value-added prod-
ucts to a sheep rancher teaching an
on-farm fiber arts class.
“There’s a lot of diversity
within agricultural tourism,”
she said. “It’s not just pumpkin
patches and corn mazes. There
are other subtle ways that you
can have the public on your farm
that might lead to something that
could be beneficial — like offer-
ing classes related to farm prod-
ucts that you grow or raise. It
doesn’t have to be these great
big events. There are also smaller
ways to do agritourism that can be
effective.”
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