The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) is continuing important research into how the process of making sparkling wine may help mitigate the impacts of smoke taint.
Naomi Vinden is a food scientist at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. She’s part of the team working on the project ‘Beating smoke taint with sparkling wine’ that’s funded by the Tasmanian Government’s Agricultural Innovation Fund.
The 10-year research trial is assessing producing sparkling wine from smoke affected wine grapes, and the sensory impact of smoke compounds on sparkling wine during ageing.
This year TIA collected 100 kilograms of Pinot Noir grapes and 100 kilograms of Chardonnay grapes from Swinging Gate Vineyard at Sidmouth in northern Tasmania.
The grapes were transported to the University of Tasmania’s Hobart campus for a trial in collaboration with the University of Tasmania’s Fire Centre Bushfire Research Hub.
“This trial simulated the smoke taint conditions that could occur when a vineyard is exposed to a bushfire,” Dr Vinden said.
“Grapes were smoked for three hours in a purpose designed structure using a variety of local native wood and leaf litter, simulating what would be present in smoke during a real bushfire event.
“By using the Fire Centre we are able to know the precise levels of smoke exposure.”
The grapes were then transported back to the winery where they were pressed and will be processed to produce sparkling wine with various carefully controlled initial levels of smoke taint.
“Sensory evaluation and chemical analysis of wines produced from these controlled smoke treatment experiments will then be performed upon competition of the winemaking,” Dr Vinden said.
“The risk of smoke taint is a huge concern for wine producers and badly smoke-affected fruit can represent a significant cost to the wine grape sector.
“Fruit which is significantly affected by smoke can lead to negative sensory outcomes which can manifest during winemaking and ageing, thereby rendering the wine unpalatable.”
The research is a collaboration with peak body Wine Tasmania, which has identified smoke mitigation as a high priority research focus.
“Wine Tasmania is pleased to partner on this important research project with the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. The risk smoke poses to vineyards is a constant concern for wine grape growers and is only expected to grow with climate change”, CEO of Wine Tasmania Sheralee Davies said.
“The wine sector is focused on both minimising the impact of smoke on wine grapes and on ways to mitigate the impact when there is exposure to smoke. Projects such as this one will provide wine producers with information on ways to manage and find optimum uses for premium grapes which may have been exposed to differing levels of smoke.”
Dr Vinden will be speaking about the research at the Science Behind Your Plate dinner as part of agriCULTURED in August - https://www.agricultured.com.au/event/the-science-behind-your-plate/