Small scale production of smoke tainted wines as a research resource

Abstract

The bushfire events in the summer of 2019-20 affected large parts of NSW, Victoria and South Australia and provided a unique opportunity to monitor fires and source smoke-affected grapes and wine. A number of projects were initiated. This was a small project with Adelaide University to take advantage of smoke-affected fruit from the Cudlee Creek bushfire in the Adelaide Hills on 20 December 2019.

Summary

Twelve batches of fruit were made into wine, from four different Hills locations and across the varieties Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. Volumes of wine ranged from 80L to 450L. Wines were subject to analysis for smoke taint compounds by AWRI and to sensory testing at The University of Adelaide. Chemical analysis showed a range of smoke exposures and is detailed in the report.

Wines were all bottled and stored at Hickinbotham Roseworthy Wine Science Laboratory for research and teaching. Some have already shared with researchers for use in current projects on smoke taint and its management. There is potential for this data to be combined with other industry data to link grape analytics to wine analytics and sensory outcomes.