Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1314457
156 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 Shea threw his go bag and animals in his car and started to leave. "I got to a place where I could see better, realized I was safe and decid- ed to stay," he says. The fire moved on quickly, leaving the hillside behind Marinus a charred ruin, but sparing the vines. An eight-day mandatory evacua- tion followed, during which time the valley was full of smoke from both the Carmel and the nearby River fires. Once smoke gets into grapes, it's pretty much over. "You can't rinse it off," Shea explains. "It moves sys- temically within the plant. Unfor tu- nately, at that time of year, the plant is pushing all its energy to the fruit, so smoke accumulates there, specifically the skins. That's why reds are more susceptible than whites." There are techniques that can lessen the offensive flavor and Bernardus tried some of those with the tainted 2008 vintage. "We made wine, but it didn't reach a level we could be proud of," Shea says. The smoke flavor in a wine can range from levels that only a sommelier could detect to "licking an ashtray," and sophisticated lab tests can now detect the damage. "We tested but we knew just from seeing the amount of smoke in the vineyard that it was going to be tainted," Shea explains. "We will not make wine this year from Carmel Valley or Cachagua." The Cachagua landscape will recover— life always finds a way. And Matt Shea will once again lov- ingly nur ture the vines that pro- duce fruit for Bernardus' beloved estate wines. But he will always have one eye open around har vest time for a telltale wisp of smoke that signals the next time lightning strikes near the Marinus vineyard. For more information on Bernardus wines, go to www.bernardus.com. Bernardus' Marinus Vineyard is in Carmel Valley on Cachagua Road. This normally bucolic setting was the site of a raging wildfire in August, 2020. This was Shea's third experience with a threatening fire. Plump but useless smoke-tainted grapes hang from vines. No Bernardus estate wines will bear the 2020 vintage label.