Lindsay Garcia, Trung Tran, D. Cole Cerrato, Michael Penner, Yanyun Zhao, and Elizabeth Tomasino*
*Oregon State University, 100 Wiegand Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331 (elizabeth.tomasino@oregonstate.edu)

For decades, the wine industry has been searching for solutions to protect grapes from wildfire smoke. Grapes exposed to smoke have increased levels of volatile phenols that cause undesirable sensory characteristics in wine. To address this problem, new mitigation techniques are needed to preserve the quality of the grapes. Due to limited smoke taint reduction techniques, innovative film coatings were developed to prevent volatile phenols from entering the grapes. Pinot noir grapes harvested from Woodhall III Vineyards in Oregon were sprayed with four different coating treatments. The coatings consist of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) as the base and other functional in­gredients. Uncoated grapes were used as a control. Specially designed cages covered in low density polyethylene greenhouse film were used to smoke the groups. Smoke was generated using 13C-labeled barley as a fuel source. The grapes were smoked for six hours, achieving a constant smoke density between 20 and 100 mg/m3 for smoke particles >1 μm. Half of the grapes were washed after they were smoked to determine whether smoke compounds are blocked or bind to the film coatings. Gas chromatog­raphy-mass spectrometry was used to determine the amount of smoke compounds in the grapes. This study will determine if the novel film coating is a promising mitiga­tion technique to prevent wildfire smoke compounds from entering grapes. If so, the wine industry will have an effective tool in their arsenal to combat wildfire smoke events and prevent smoke taint in wine and the potential loss of product.

Funding Support: USDA-NIFA-SCRI, USDA-NIFA-ARS