Smoke from wildfires burning in the western United States has changed the taste of grapes in some of the country’s most celebrated vineyards. It has given the fruits a taste that could mean disaster for the 2020 harvest season. Wineries in California, Oregon and Washington have survived wildfires before. But the smoke from the fires this year has been especially bad. It has been thick enough to cover whole vineyards. Day after day, some West Coast cities had some of the worst air quality in the world. No one yet knows the severity of the smoke damage to the crop, but growers are trying to study it. If these grapes are made into wine without steps to limit the harm, the taste could be so bad that the product cannot be marketed. The wildfires will likely be “without question the single worst disaster the wine-grape growing community has ever faced,” said John Aguirre. He is president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers.
