Smokepoint Vodka: How a Grape & Grain Distiller Found the Benefits of Smoke
When history books mention the tragic testing shortages of 2020, they’ll rightfully be describing the early scarcity of Covid-19 tests that helped the virus spread like wildfire. But amidst a record-setting outbreak of actual wildfires on the United States’ West Coast another testing shortage occurred with results that brought further damage to a California wine industry already battered by the fires themselves along with the pandemic-related personnel and supply-chain issues affecting all businesses.
It’s a remarkable story of the complications and domino effects that can occur when the slow, insidious roll of climate change crosses paths with another major crisis. On a brighter note, at least in one case, it’s a story of businesses lending supporting to each other and their communities in a time of need.
"Vineyard and smoke" by docoverachiever is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Testing During the Fires
“After the wildfires of 2017, we made a plan for the future, understanding that we are going to continue to experience fires in this area” explains Nicolas Quillé, Chief Winemaking Officer of the Crimson Wine Group, whose extensive west coast holdings include Pine Ridge Vineyards in Napa County. “As smoke began approaching the vineyards, we would run tests on the grapes while they were still on the vines.”
The test for a chemical called guaiacol (which develops in the fruits’ skin when it comes in contact with the compounds released from burning wood) would let winemakers know which grapes had been tainted and to what extent. “It was a cut-our-losses philosophy,” explains Quillé. “We knew we would have to abandon some of the crop. But that meant we didn’t spend any money on harvesting and barreling it only to find out the resulting wine was not up to our standards.”
The Testing Shortage of 2020
But the 2020 combination of a particularly devastating fire season and pandemic-driven reductions in laboratory services, guaiacol testing capacity was overwhelmed in short order. What would normally be a two-day turnaround extended to a month or longer—making timely decisions on which grapes to harvest impossible. Acknowledging a further pain point, Quillé said, “The grapes we’d harvested before the fires in 2020 were beautiful, highly concentrated, really exuberant. It had been an excellent growing season, with very few heat spikes.”
But once the smoke rolled in and there was no effective way to assess which grapes were damaged, the entire crop was harvested and barreled. “The roads around our facilities were being closed,” Quillé recalls, “Our employees were being evacuated. At that point we were more worried about our people’s safety and the possibility of our buildings burning down as about smoke damage to the grapes.”
A Distiller Pitches In
On the other side of the San Francisco Bay, the team at the Hangar 1 Distillery in Alameda took in reports of the wine country fires with growing dismay. While conventional drinkers’ wisdom cautions against the mixing of grain and grape, that very combination is the hallmark of Hangar 1’s signature vodkas, distilled primarily from grain combined with California white wine bases. The company has also produced limited edition vodkas including one distilled from wine alone and another that, post-distillation, was aged in California Syrah barrels.
Wanting to call attention to the struggles of Hangar 1 friends and colleagues in the local wine industry—and to raise funds for fire relief in Napa and Sonoma County—Head Distiller Eric Lee had a thought: “I wondered how we could use some of that damaged crop.”
The Perils of Smoke Tainted Grapes
There are two ways that smoke-damaged grapes can affect a wine: Aromatically smoke can add a wide range of olfactory aspects to wine, from the scent of pine needles or clove—not inherently a problem, depending on degree—all the way to cigarette ash. In terms of taste, smoke can add bitterness to a wine’s finish. And given the interplay of the senses, a smoky aroma can easily be perceived as a smoky taste.
Some Oregon wineries have resourcefully taken slightly smoke-tainted grapes originally grown for red wines and repurposed them for rosés, which are made with far less contact between juice and skin (where the guaiacol builds up). But Pine Ridge has built its reputation on complex high-end reds and couldn’t risk any compromise to the flavor of wines marketed to serious oenophiles.
“We decided not to bottle anything with any traces of smoke,” explains Quillé. “We destroyed more than two-thirds of the wine we’d made.”
An Innovative Solution
But about 6,000 gallons of Malbec and Merlot were saved. Instead, they were trucked across the Bay Bridge to Alameda. And Eric Lee began production of Hangar 1 Smoke Point vodka, a 4800 bottle limited edition run. “With the filtration and distillation processes we use, no smoky taste gets into the vodka,” says Lee, who, ironically, recently experimented with a distillation base that included peated malt hoping to create a smoky, Scottish-accented Hangar 1.
If not smoky flavor, what does the salvaged Point Ridge product bring to Smoke Point? “Using this wine in the process adds a certain body and heavier mouthfeel,” says Lee, who also says that in comparing Hangar 1 Straight, distilled from grain and white wine; Hangar 1 Fog Point, distilled from white wine alone; and Hangar 1 Smoke Point, with its red wine base, “There are very different characters to the vodkas.”
Adds Quillé, “I’ll admit I’m not a vodka drinker. Other than wine, I’ll often drink cognac and Armagnac. I was very intrigued about why you would use grapes or wine for making vodka. Hangar sent me samples made from different distillates and truly, I could taste a difference between grape and grain and very much between the ones made with white and red wines.
There’s a grappa aspect to Smoke Point, it seems to take on some of the aromatics of the wine.”
However one chooses to characterize the distinctive taste and mouthfeel of this grape and grain collaboration (The Hangar 1 marketing scribes point out “subtly sweet, vanilla, licorice, and butterscotch notes on the palate, with a peppery, allspice finish”), Lee emphasizes that the project was not primarily driven by the dream of an aha! flavor profile, rather, “Our goal is to bring attention to the dangers of fire season to the California wine industry, and to help winemakers and the first responders.”
All proceeds from sales of the $50 bottles will be donated to the California Fire Foundation https://www.cafirefoundation.org which supports firefighters, their families, and communities impacted by fire. Hangar 1, Crimson and California’s largest beverage alcohol distributor, Republic National Distributing Company, are also making further donations to the Foundation in conjunction with the release of Smoke Point.
Hangar 1 Smoke Point Vodka can be ordered online at www.reservebar.com
Donations to the California Fire Foundation can be made at www.cafirefoundation.org