New Website for Wine Grape Growers Dealing with Smoke Exposure

Posted by David Eddy|August 26, 2024

The West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force (WCSETF) launched its new website — wcsetf.org — which features comprehensive smoke exposure resources to assist growers, winemakers, and others that serve the wine and wine grape sector.

The website offers a centralized hub of information from WCSETF, universities, government agencies, and industry groups, including:

Frequently asked questions
Best practices
Labs
Contracts
Crop insurance
Wildfire preparedness
Informational videos
University resources
Research
News and events

Posted on the website are updated best practices that include grape sampling protocol for growers as well as micro-fermentation and nano-scale fermentation protocols.

“The goal with this website is to consolidate and share as much information as possible regarding smoke exposure,” says Natalie Collins, President of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, who chairs the WCSETF Steering Committee. “Instead of having to search multiple websites for information, the industry can now use the WCSETF website as a convenient, go-to resource. The site is a work in progress and will continue to be updated with additional content.”

The WCSETF originated from discussions in early 2019 between grower leaders and industry group representatives from California, Oregon, and Washington. Since then, the task force has convened educational webinars — including its annual Smoke Summit — and produced reference materials to assist growers and winemakers with certain challenges associated with smoke-exposed wine grapes. WCSETF Steering Committee members include wine grape industry organizations from California, Oregon, and Washington. They work in partnership with scientists from the University of California, Davis, Oregon State University, Washington State University, and USDA-ARS.