Protecting wine from wildfire smoke taint with a nanotech coating
By 
Rebecca Trager2024-02-06T14:30:00
US researchers, prompted by vineyard losses from 2020 wildfires on the west coast, have developed protective cellulose nanofibre coatings for grapes
A team at Oregon State University has developed cellulose nanofibre-based coatings that target three volatile phenols known to contribute to smoke taint in grapes. They are now working to produce a spray that vineyard managers can apply to their grapes to protect them from wildfire smoke, and expect to have that product ready in several years.
The work was sparked by a series of major wildfires in 2020 during grape harvest season across Oregon, Washington and California. Questions about how the smoke compounds that settled on the grapes might affect wines made with them prompted many vineyard managers to write off the entire year’s harvest in those regions. This led to estimated losses of $3.7 billion for the wine industry.