The forest fires raging throughout southern Greece are worrying winemakers already experiencing a difficult year with record high temperatures and early harvest dates.
In July, forest fires destroyed the Tetramythos winery on the northern shores of the Peloponnese.
There is concern that the fires, which are currently raging in multiple locations throughout southern Greece and have killed over 60 people, could threaten several vineyards.
Important appellations like Nemea have so far experienced small scale fires on the fringes of the region.
'We were saved thanks to the last minute change in direction of the wind,' said Nemean winemaker Kostas Mitravela.
Vassilis Kanelakopoulos at Ktima Mercouri in Helia, the hardest hit region in the western Peloponnese, said that although being only 15 minutes from the fires raging near Ancient Olympia, the winery was in 'no immediate danger'.
To the north-east of Helia entire villages have been wiped out.
According to Konstantinos Lazarakis MW in Athens, although no major estates or appellations have been affected, wines could be tainted by the smoke.
'We will have to wait and see if we get something like the smoke taint we saw in many Australian wines in 2003,' said Lazarakis. 'Several critics reported that smoke taint in some southern Australian wines from the 2003 vintage was supposedly due to the fires there that year.'
Producer Angelos Iatrides of Alpha Estate, in northern Greece, said that the region was in 'no present danger'.
Latest reports indicate that 64 people have been killed by the fires, which many observers believe have been started deliberately.
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Smoke taint in wine is an insidious and devastating problem that does not exhibit its full effect until some time after harvest and fermentation. For some years my company has been involved in research into, and development of technical solutions for this sadly growing problem in the wine world. We have dealt with this matter in 2003 and again in 2007 in South Eastern Australia; in 2003 in British Colombia and have recently tasted a commercially available South African wine with the unmistakable and unpleasant smell and taste of smoke. Extreme weather conditions predicted by global warming suggest this will become more common around the world.
Researchers in this country have done some important work in identifying and quantifying indicator compounds for smoke taint but, unfortunately, these give a deceptively simple view of the problem. Smoke is a complex mix of compounds that will vary greatly according to the fire conditions and the types of fuel. What we observe is that some of these compounds are absorbed by the vine and become chemically bound in the grapes in a form that is progressively released during the winemaking and maturation process. An assessment of grapes or must early in the process may therefore give a prematurely optimistic assessment of the degree of taint. Furthermore, winemakers' attempts to treat musts early in the process may result in the stripping of more desirable flavour than taint components. However treatments we have developed appear to have some success in removing smoke taint when performed later.
Our thoughts and best wishes are with our colleagues in Greece in this difficult time.
David Wollan, Memstar Pty Ltd, VIC, Australia
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Smoke taint in wine is an insidious and devastating problem that does not exhibit its full effect until some time after harvest and fermentation. For some years my company has been involved in research into, and development of technical solutions for this sadly growing problem in the wine world. We have dealt with this matter in 2003 and again in 2007 in South Eastern Australia; in 2003 in British Colombia and have recently tasted a commercially available South African wine with the unmistakable and unpleasant smell and taste of smoke. Extreme weather conditions predicted by global warming suggest this will become more common around the world.
