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Oregon Wineries Come Together To Save Grapes Rejected For Smoke Taint
Grape growers in southern Oregon thought they had already weathered one of the biggest challenges of the 2018 season — the Klondike Fire, which burned over 175,000 acres in July.
But on Sept. 22, they faced even more devastating news: Copper Cane Wines and Provisions, a Calif.-based winery that contracts with numerous growers in the region, canceled grape orders mere days before harvest was supposed to start, citing smoke taint.
"We were shocked," says grower Leon Pyle. "We knew that we had a lot of smoke, but it wasn't worse than the previous year, and the previous year's wine turned out just fine."
[...] Currently, research focuses on guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol — chemical compounds produced by fires — when assessing taint, but there are no set standards to determine what constitutes acceptable levels.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday March 08 2019, @04:42PM (5 children)
You can make good wine from all sorts of grapes, or even other fruits. They're different flavors, and some of them won't meet the standards that certain wine snobs have set for themselves, but wine expertise is total BS [gizmodo.com] anyways.
Drink what you like, don't drink what you don't like until after you've had a few rounds. It's that simple. If you have grapes you don't know how to use, you aren't being creative enough. Yeah, these grapes might have been affected by the fires - give 'em a try, what's the worst that can happen?
Signed, somebody with about 20 wineries within a 15-minute drive and some friends who like to make their own.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday March 08 2019, @05:25PM (3 children)
The same way that fine art, and real estate valuations are total BS. It is worth what somebody is willing to pay, and there are plenty of irrational people with money out there who make the markets.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday March 08 2019, @06:12PM (2 children)
In fine art, the main reasons for the valuations are rich people trying to make themselves richer, dodge taxes, and sometimes launder illegal cash. It's intentional deception that's all about the benjamins and has jack squat to do with art. By contrast, in the world of wine tasting, it's more about rich idiots trying to impress other rich idiots with their supposed sophistication, but it's about posturing not money, because the wine can't be resold after you've drunk it. Different kinds of BS for different purposes, in other words.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday March 08 2019, @10:22PM
Mostly. It can be about money too, though. Rich people have been known to invest in very pricey bottles of liquor too, hoping (speculating) that they'll get a decent return. That's basically the only reason you get wines or spirits than cost $10,000/bottle or whatever. It is like the art world sometimes.
But for the $100/bottle or a few hundred/bottle stuff... yeah, it's mostly about being pretentious.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 09 2019, @12:37AM
By contrast, in the world of wine tasting, it's more about rich idiots trying to impress other rich idiots with their supposed sophistication, but it's about posturing not money
Oh come now! You really believe that puffery? Those rich "idiots" are discussing which political campaign will leave their coke money squeaky clean. Coke is still a thing I hear. Aren't they moving into grow ops yet? Maybe not a good idea until we get the feds out of the way. They can still come and take everything. Hope those guys in California know that.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 08 2019, @05:27PM
One of my pleasures, while in Scotland, was to meet a wine maker outside of Edinburgh. He had more wines in his cellar than I ever heard of. I spent about three hours with him, and he kept pushing wine at me. Smell, taste, smell, taste, over and over. There were some smells and flavors that were pure heaven, and most of the rest came really close. If my life depended on it, I couldn't tell you today all the wines I tasted that evening. Of course, his courtesy to a dumb Yank were about half wasted. I couldn't tell you what made one wine delicious, and another only good.