Good morning. Wendy Cox in Vancouver today.
A heavy pall of grey from the smoke-filled skies near Kelowna has turned the sun orange and laden every breath with a campfire whiff. Vintners in the award-winning wine region are now wondering whether their grapes will retain a trace of this summer’s catastrophe.
As Xiao Xu reports today, the grapes are maturing and harvest is just weeks away, a critical time for the fruit and a time when it is most susceptible to taking on a vaguely burnt taste.
University of British Columbia chemistry professor Wesley Zandberg leads a team that has studied the impact of wildfire smoke on B.C.’s wine industry for several years. In a recent report, he wrote that smoke poses “massive threat.”
“Most tainted wines smell bad and are unsellable,” the report said.
In an interview, Dr. Zandberg said smoke exposure may – but not necessarily – lead to tainted wine. “But if the crop is actually ruined, if the wine actually is tainted, there’s nothing you can do with it.”
He added that fresh smoke poses a strong threat, and the risk increases when very ripe grapes are exposed.
Miles Prodan, president and CEO of Wine Growers British Columbia, said the impact of smoke on grapes is complicated.
If they are exposed for a long time, volatile compounds can be absorbed that are then released during fermentation. That could result in a “campfire” or “burnt” character in the wine, Mr. Prodan said.
Smoky aromas come from a range of small, volatile phenols. When phenols permeate the grape, they can bind to sugars and other compounds in the skin. During fermentation and aging, the compounds may be released, which can result in additional smoky aromas and flavours.
Kelcie Jones, wine director at Chambar Restaurant in Vancouver, said she’s tasted more and more smoke-affected wines recently from the Okanagan Valley, B.C.’s premier grape-growing region, as well as from Oregon, Washington and California.
“There is like perceptible difference in flavour, especially once you are looking at grapes that are further along in maturity,” she said. If fires persist through August – and especially into September – the smoky quality would be more noticeable.
Even without a trained palate such as hers, Ms. Jones said some average consumers can also tell the difference. But for many of them, the smoky flavour can be similar to the taste of wines aged in oak barrels.
Even so, for high-priced wines people want to cellar and keep for a long time, Ms. Jones said, “that might be more challenging.”
Still, for some consumers, the taste can be more of a feature than a bug.
When winemaker Bill Eggert of Fairview Cellars in Oliver, B.C., fermented his grapes in 2015, he noticed a hint of “guaiacol” – a compound that indicates smoke exposure and could be a major contributor to smoke taint.
Mr. Eggert had sampled smoke-infused wines before, and some tasted and smelled like an ashtray. Fortunately, he said, the concentration wasn’t strong in his wine. So he decided to bottle it and take the chance.
“It turned out that over 80 per cent of the people that tasted the wine bought it [and] loved it,” he said. “And a whole bunch of them have actually come back and looking for more, begging me for more, but I sold out.”
Wine country has had more than its fair share of challenges this year.
On Friday, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer, Bonnie Henry, reimposed a mask mandate on the entire Interior Health Authority, reduced limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings and halted high-intensity fitness classes as part of an effort to clamp down on rising COVID-19 infections in the area. The restrictions had previously only applied to the Kelowna area.
Dr. Henry also warned that all British Columbians should be prepared to live with some restrictions for a little longer. As of Sept. 7, the province was scheduled to make masks a personal choice and drop all limits on gathering sizes. But with some of the highest per-capita case counts in the country – Alberta and Saskatchewan are worse – and with hospitalizations rising, Dr. Henry said she would have more advice on Monday on what happens next.
That will include updated guidance for elementary, high school and post-secondary schools.
In Alberta, school boards have already been given that guidance. Sort of.
Carrie Tait writes today that the UCP government has left it up to individual school boards to make decisions on what policies schools will have in place. It has meant students enrolled in Medicine Hat’s public schools will have to wear masks, while those in the city’s Catholic schools can make their own call.
“They’ve chosen to kind of abandon us and say: ‘It is up to you,’” said Catherine Wilson, chair of the Medicine Hat Public Board of Education.
“We’re not doctors. We’re not medical teams. We educate kids. And so I don’t feel it was fair and I don’t feel it was right.”
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Wendy Cox
James Keller