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Oregon smoke taint wildfires

Smoke taint – the view from Oregon

Samantha Cole-Johnson 2022
Samantha Cole-Johnson
Wednesday 8 September 2021
Fire seen from Walter Scott, 8 September 2020

Samantha visited 38 producers recently, and could hardly overlook the smoky elephant in the room… See also Smoke taint – a winemaker's view, Smoke taint – the Australian consumers' view and Smoke taint – US lawyers' view. Above, the view from Walter Scott wine operation in the Willamette Valley exactly a year ago today.

I recently got in my car and drove 615 miles (990 km) north from Napa through southern Oregon, the Willamette Valley and the Columbia Gorge in order to update the Oregon entries in Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2023. While I was mostly...