Santa Cruz Mountains Winemakers Grapple with Aftermath of Fire
by Christina Waters
Excerpt from article below
GETTING IN LINE
Nicole Walsh, winemaker for her label Ser, as well as for Bonny Doon Vineyard, began harvesting Orange Muscat during one of the intense heat waves in mid-August. While the ripeness wasn’t what she wanted, she was glad she got her grapes in before the smoke arrived there. Worried about possible smoke taint, she decided against grapes from one of her favorite blocks, “the old vine Cinsault from Bechtold vineyard in Lodi. I was almost going to take a gamble, but that particular week we were dealing with the CZU fire threatening Santa Cruz, especially the winery on the Westside. I was not certain I would even be able to bring the fruit or juice to the winery, friends being evacuated, virtual school with my kids, my husband—a firefighter in Palo Alto—being pulled in many directions and not able to come home.”
Walsh explains that trying to send samples for analysis meant getting in line with every other winemaker trying to check for smoke taint levels in their grapes.
“Some winemakers were even sending samples to Australia and Europe for faster turnaround,” she says.
As far as the heat waves, she says, “the fruit in many areas seemed to be erratically jumping into chemical ripeness overnight. Because of Covid-19 protocols, one of the main custom crush facilities I work with was demanding a week’s notice before scheduling any trucks.” Usually, winemakers can count on a 24-hour window for picking.
Walsh calls this year’s crop, “an extremely challenging vintage on so many levels.”