At the Château Smith Haut Lafitte outside of Bordeaux, France, winery staff are preparing for the unprecedented as a wildfire rages nearby.
“It’s an experience we’ve never underwent before,” Ludovic Fradin, the deputy managing director of the winery, told CNN’s Paula Newton.
Fradin said that the winery – which includes a five-star hotel – hasn’t received instructions to evacuate the premises just yet, but staff are preparing for the worst.
Fradin said that the Château Smith Haut Lafitte has developed a plan in case staff need to move their livestock, which includes cows and llamas. In the meantime, the winery is providing firefighters with pastries and water.
The fire’s proximity to France’s famous vineyards near Bordeaux has caused alarm throughout the wine-loving world. Château Smith Haut Lafitte produces some of the most highly regarded – and expensive – wines.
Forest fires often cause ripe grapes to take on a bitter taste from smoke, an issue known as “smoke taint” in the wine industry. On Saturday, wine expert Nicolle Croft said that she’d received many calls from anxious observers about possible harms to the 2026 vintage.
However, Croft told CNN that the grapes around Bordeaux aren’t yet ripe enough to be harmed by smoke. “The grapes are like very hard, small peas,” she said. “They aren’t absorbing any aromas.”
However, if the fires continue for longer, the smoke may become a problem. Dr. Phil Crews, a winemaker and chemist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told CNN on Saturday that as grapes ripen, their sugars could bind with phenols in smoke. The resulting taint is “ashy, foul tasting and smelling,” Crews said.
“If the wind is blowing in the direction of the vineyard, then there’s going to be a problem,” said Crews.
