Oregon vineyards face losses amid concerns about smoke taint
SALEM, Ore. — Some Oregon lawmakers and winery owners scrambled Thursday to help a dozen vineyard owners who face the prospect of tons of grapes withering on the vine after a California company abruptly cancelled contracts to buy the grapes worth millions of dollars over fears they are tainted by wildfire smoke.
Copper Cane, based in the Napa Valley, cancelled contracts to buy 2,000 tons (1,814 metric tons) of grapes just as the annual harvest was getting underway in Oregon.
The value of the grapes totals $4 million. If they go unsold, harvesting crews will be out of work, and earnings and profits won’t be pumped into the local economy.
The cancellation of the contracts “is perhaps the most devastating issue facing the Oregon wine industry in our history,” said Christine Collier Clair, winery director of Willamette Valley Vineyards.