How scientists are trying to save America’s smoke-damaged wine industry

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“And, if I have a challenge like smoke taint. Taint is a negative word – it’s a smoke impact which is a deviation of your goal. Grapes give you a product that is wine, and the smoke can impact that final product. Sometimes it’s unsellable, and sometimes it’s just an added challenge.”

This year, California is once again on edge. The forecast from Cal Fire, the state’s largest fire agency, notes that fire seasons are getting longer “as a direct result of climate change”.

This year winter and spring have been exceptionally dry, meaning the state will face its hot summer in moderate to extreme drought. These low moisture levels in vegetation and forests are an early warning system to the high risk of fire.

Yet no one is prepared to let the prized, and lucrative, wine industry go up in smoke, and millions of dollars in public and private money are being poured into potential interventions. In December, a $7.65m government grant was awarded to a joint effort from several West Coast universities to further research “smoke to glass” impacts.

Ideas include lining vineyards with sensors to provide real-time risk assessments of smoke, and a de-facto “sunscreen” that would coat grapes with a substance to act as a barrier to smoke components.

“There are a lot of scientists coming at this from a lot of directions,” Slocum notes."...

And —> Go Aggies!


https://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/