Wine producers warn future crops are at risk of smoke taint from hazard reduction burns

A year after many New South Wales winegrowers lost everything to smoke taint, they are now warning hazard reduction burns, which should protect them, could pose a new threat.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) called the just-ended bushfire danger period the “quietest fire season in a decade”.

La Niña conditions provided ideal conditions for prescribed burns.

Tom Ward, the president of the Orange Vigneron’s Association, was one of hundreds to lose his vintage to smoke taint after the devastating fires of…