Long Term Solutions for Smoke-Affected Vineyards - Part 2

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

The California wine industry has been impacted by smoke from fires multiple times in the past five years. The industry is making efforts to identify arrangements of how to handle these disasters in the future. Glenn Proctor is with wine and grape brokerage, the Ciatti Company, and is also a grower himself. He says he understands where growers are coming from.

Proctor… “So last year there was this: if you have any smoke - even at the lowest levels that you can detect - some wineries rejected based on that. And from a grower perspective, you can’t just say any amount is rejectable. There’s a gradation there of what is appropriate. So hopefully we can work with defining some of these ranges as we go forward.”

Proctor says the industry is trying to define the acceptable ranges and protocols that are fair and equitable on all sides.

Proctor… “I’ve got a contract with a winery, and it should be a contract and commitment to buy the grapes. Not, if there’s a smoke event, now it’s just an option to buy. So at some point, it can’t be ‘oh we’ve had a small fire 30 miles away, now your contract is in question until we do all of this’. So there’s a commitment by the buyer that needs to be structured there so it can’t just be an option which you can walk away.”

While we all hope that the worst of the fires is behind us, taking proactive measures in this area is important for the future of the industry.