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    Oregon Wineries Come Together To Save Grapes Rejected For Smoke Taint

    After the Klondike Fire, some growers were hit with canceled orders. So wineries launched the Oregon Solidarity project, making wine with rejected grapes and paying full value for the harvest.
    by Shana Clarke Mar 06, 2019 4 minutes
    Members of the Oregon Solidarity project include (from left) Ed King and Justin King of King Estate Winery; Christine Clair and Joe Ibrahim of Willamette Valley Vineyards, and Brent Stone and Ray Nuclo, also of King Estate Winery.

    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."

    As word spread north to Willamette Valley, Ore., a few determined winemakers refused to think that project was born. Under this new coalition label, four wineries came together to buy abandoned grapes and create three wines — a rosé, a chardonnay and a pinot noir — funneling all profits back to the growers.

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