Senator Alex Padilla, alongside other west coast officials, brought forward two pieces of legislation to help vineyards and wineries deal with the impact of California wildfires.
The first piece of legislation, the Smoke Exposure Research Act of 2023, would authorize over 30 million dollars over five years to require the US Department of Agriculture to identify the compounds for smoke taint in grape vineyards.
Despite the frequency of wildfires and resulting damages in California, there is currently little understanding on the impact of smoke on wine grapes. The second piece of legislation is the Crop Insurance for Wine Grapes Act, intended to expand insurance protection for local wine grape growers dealing with smoke taint losses. Currently, crop insurance only pays growers back for crops that are not harvested.
Vineyards that are unable to test their grapes for wineries on-site would see their grapes rejected by wineries due to smoke taint after harvest, and would see significant losses. The next step in research would be to give vineyards the tools to test their grapes on their own.
