As the climate crisis intensifies, the wine industry is increasingly vulnerable and growers across the world are scrambling to find solutions
Summer 2020 was a rough year for Hope Well Wine’s owner, Mimi Casteel. Wildfires spread throughout Oregon, not far from land that she leased to grow more than 20 acres of grapes. The smoke was so bad she had to disable the fire alarms in her home. A gray cloud loomed in the distance for days.
“The fires were not super close but were severe enough, burned long enough that we were in very thick smoke for more than a week,” Casteel said. At the time she was selling about 80% of the fruit she grew but last year’s wildfire caused smoke taint – where grapes absorb smoke, affecting the quality of wine they produce. She lost all of her big clients, she said – “they walked out on their contracts”. Casteel had no smoke insurance to cover these losses, which she estimated to amount to about $300,000.
