{"id":54471,"date":"2022-08-24T10:36:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T09:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrovin.com\/how-smoke-taint-affects-wine-quality\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T10:58:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T08:58:49","slug":"how-smoke-taint-affects-wine-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrovin.com\/en\/how-smoke-taint-affects-wine-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"How Smoke Taint affects wine quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

The summer of 2022 <\/strong>will be remembered for a long period without rain, heat waves recording extreme temperatures for weeks at a time and, as a consequence of this climate, one of the summer seasons with the highest number of hectares affected by fires <\/strong>in Spain ever, with more than 220 thousand hectares burned according to the EFFIS.<\/p>\n

This has led us to start talking about a term we don\u2019t hear very much in Spain, but is well known in other New World viticulture areas, such as Australia and California. We\u2019re talking about Smoke Taint.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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What is Smoke Taint?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the effect on wines prepared with grapes from areas near a fire. <\/strong>The presence of fires, or simply the smoke from them, creates a high concentration of volatile compounds <\/strong>in the air that are easily absorbed by the vine<\/strong>, stored in the berries and transferred to the must during maceration. This leads to wines with characteristic aromas and flavours<\/strong> (smoke, bacon, campfire and ash) considered a defect as they are unpleasant and persistent in the mouth during consumption.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Compound<\/strong><\/td>\nDescriptor<\/strong><\/td>\nDetection threshold in red wine<\/strong> (\u03bc<\/strong>g\/l)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Guaiacol<\/strong><\/td>\nSmoke, medicinal<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
m-cresol<\/strong><\/td>\nTar. Medicinal, phenolic<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
p-cresol<\/strong><\/td>\nTar, Medicinal, phenolic<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
o-cresol<\/strong><\/td>\nTar, Medicinal, phenolic<\/td>\n62<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4- Methylguaiacol<\/strong><\/td>\nVanilla, calvo, smoke<\/td>\n65<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Syringol<\/strong><\/td>\nSmoke, charcoal<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4- Methylsyringol<\/strong><\/td>\nSmoke, charcoal<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Image 1. Volatile compounds present in wines affected by Smoke Taint.<\/p>\n

Source: Sensory impact of smoke exposure The Australian Wine Research Institute.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The compounds responsible <\/strong>for Smoke Taint, <\/strong>which can serve as markers of the type of effect in an analytical determination (Table 1), are stored in the grapes together with the sugars.<\/strong> These present molecules are non-odorant phenolic diglucosides<\/strong>, which can be released and give rise to volatile compounds through the enzymes present during alcoholic fermentation, or the enzymatic activities of saliva during wine consumption.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working with grapes affected by Smoke Taint <\/strong><\/p>\n

The compounds responsible for the Smoke Taint<\/strong> will be transferred to the must during the first stages of production. Therefore, we need to start at the time of reception to minimize the presence of these compounds in the final wine. <\/strong><\/p>\n