Assessing smoke taint in grapes and wine

Abstract

When wildfires or controlled burns occur in proximity to wine regions, there is potential for vineyard exposure to smoke and consequently, for ‘smoky’, ‘ashy’ sensory attributes, i.e. ‘smoke taint’, to appear in resultant wines. This paper concerns the quantification of glycoconjugates of guaiacol for the assessment of smoke taint in grapes and wine. In particular, this paper describes investigations into: (i) the provenance of guaiacol glycoconjugates in fruit from control (i.e. unsmoked) and smoke-affected grapevines; (ii) the metabolism of guaiacol glycoconjugates during fermentation; and (iii) the possible carry-over of smoke taint between growing seasons.