In 2020, Constellation, a large winery producing wine for several labels, did not take the Syrah grapes from Art and Bonnie Toy’s Dal Porto Ranch Vineyard because of fear of smoke taint. There had been fires in the area and the sunsets did feature a large red orb disappearing beneath the western horizon. But we were never in danger of evacuation nor did we need to shelter in place because of poor air quality. It was the middle of the crush, and I didn’t get the news until two weeks after the grapes should have been harvested. The situation piqued my curiosity. I was making wine from local fruit. Should I have been worried? Was I also at risk of making wine with smoke taint or was Constellation just trying to balance inventories by not taking the fruit? I called Art and asked, “Is the fruit still there?” Stupid question. “Yes”, Art replied. No one was interested in taking a risk on the fruit. “Is it still in good shape?” I inquired. “Yeah, but some clusters are showing signs of dehydration.” Art replied. “I’ve got an idea I want to run past you Art. I would like to make some wine from the Syrah and see if there is anything to this claim about smoke taint in the wine. If the wine turns out fine and I bottle it, I will pay you for the grapes, if not I will share the wine with you, provided it doesn’t taste like an ashtray.” Long story short. The wine turned out beautifully, and we have been crushing just over two tons of Dal Porto Syrah which is enough to make about 150 cases of wine ever since.
