Oregon Wine And Wildfires Will Be Studied By OSU Thanks To Grant

PORTLAND, OR — The wine industry is not only valuable to the Oregon economy, it provides so much of a boost to the U.S. economy that wine grapes are the highest value fruit crop in the country. WineAmerica, an industry group, says that the grape and wine industry contributes $220 billion to the economy every year.

As a result, as any number of farmers in the Willamette Valley and across the state will tell you, doing everything possible to protect grapes is very important.

With increasing numbers of wildfires each year, the grapes face a growing threat.

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Researchers from Oregon State University and some other schools on the West Coast are working to study the effect that smoke has on grapes with the hopes of giving farmers information on how to better protect their crops.

The smoke conditions were so severe in 2020, that many Oregon wineries chose not to use those grapes to make wine.

"Smoke events are only likely to increase, and last year made it clear we need to be better prepared,” associate professor of enology at Oregon State and lead researcher, Elisabeth Tomasino, said.

"This research will go a long way in providing tools that will allow the grape and wine industries to quickly make decisions that significantly impact their economic livelihoods."

To help with the research, Tomasino and her colleagues just received a $7.65 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The funding will help already in-progress research at Oregon State into how smoke events taint crops.

Researchers hope that they will be able to better understand how smoke density and composition impact grapes, grapevines, wine composition and sensory perception of the wine in a glass. The research team is calling this a “smoke to glass” understanding.