PROSSER, Wash. – Washington State University researchers are part of a team of west coast university collaborators that received a $7.6 million grant to study the impact of smoke exposure on grapes, a project that will provide critical knowledge to grape growers and winery owners in Washington severely impacted by widespread wildfire smoke in recent years.

Washington State University researchers will work with scientists at Oregon State University and the University of California, Davis, on the four-year project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative.

“This project really ties together our ongoing state-based research programs into a strong, coordinated effort up and down the west coast,” said Tom Collins, assistant professor at Washington State University, and on the project.

Washington is the second-largest wine producing state in the U.S., with over 1,000 wineries that produce over 17 million cases of wine each year, contributing to $8.4 billion in annual in-state economic impact, according to the .

Grape exposure to wildfire smoke can compromise the quality and value of wine grapes, and adversely affect the final wine. Wildfire season has been especially devastating for the west coast, where California, Oregon, and Washington are three of the .

In the wake of the challenging 2020 vintage, the grape and wine industry on the west coast want to better understand how smoke density and composition impact grapes, grape vines, wine composition and sensory perception of the wine in a glass. The research team is calling this a “smoke to glass” understanding.

Goals for the grant build on  Collins has been doing this summer with , such as installing low-cost sensors and sensor networks in commercial vineyards throughout central Washington, and experimenting with barrier sprays for fruit to reduce or eliminate smoke uptake into grapes.

The team of west coast researchers will work to assess the impact of smoke exposure on the health of grapes and grapevines, and how to optimize rapid small-batch fermentation to better predict what wine impacted by wildfire smoke will taste like.

Collins said in the early years, there were only three or four researchers in the U.S. working on smoke exposure. “Now we have a really substantial team to work through these challenges. This grant really brings the resources that are going to make significant headway,” he said.

Leading smoke exposure scientist will help wineries prepare for future wildfires

By Washington State Wine

SEATTLE – Wildfires bring devastation to land and property, and in wine growing regions the smoke can affect the quality of the crop.  The impact of this smoke exposure is the focus of the Washington Advancements in Viticulture and Enology (WAVEx) research seminar on April 17, 2019, in Richland, Washington.

Washington State Wine has funded research led by Washington State University’s Dr. Tom Collins, one of the nation’s leading smoke exposure scientists, since 2016. Collins developed a portable smoke hoop house to initiate smoking trials in WSU’s research vineyard so he could control when and the amount of smoke to the grapes. His project has studied the timing of exposure and the role of fuel source in smoke exposure. He is also working to develop analytical methods to accurately predict the potential for smoke exposure in wines and identify winemaking practices to mitigate smoke exposure.

Collins will review the current state of smoke exposure knowledge during the seminar and share the outcome of his first three years of study. The seminar will include tasting wines made from Collins’ smoke exposure timing trials, fuel source and mitigation through reverse osmosis.

The WAVEx seminar at the WSU-Tri-Cities campus is sponsored by Washington State Wine and WSU. WAVEx is a condensed version of the signature WAVE seminar. The purpose of WAVE is to raise awareness of Washington wine grape growers and wineries of industry-supported research, share research outcomes and encourage two-way communication between growers, vintners and scientists.

Pre-registration is required as seating is limited. Register: .

 

Media Contact:

Heather Bradshaw, Communications Director, 206 326-5752, hbradshaw@washingtonwine.org

By Brian Charles Clark, Washington State Magazine

As microscopic particles and liquid droplets ooze and eddy through the vineyard, grapes are coated with toxic chemicals. Worse, smoke from forest and range fires manages to get into the plant itself, wreaking havoc with the plant’s internal chemistry.

In self-defense, grape vines attempt to sequester toxic smoke particles that infiltrate berries and leaves by binding sugar molecules to the offending invaders. The plant can then metabolically shuffle the sugar-trapped particles into places where the smoke won’t be as harmful to the vines’ mission: produce grapes and reproduce.

Humans interfere with the vines’ mission when we harvest grapes for wine. Making wine from smoke-tainted grapes, though, is a frustrating enterprise. According to the Washington State University wine science team, smoke-tainted wines are in danger of developing “unpleasantly ‘pharmaceutical,’ ‘dirty,’ ‘ash tray,’ ‘medicinal,’ ‘camp fire,’ or ‘burnt’” flavors and, to add insult to injury, the taint compounds “reduce the perception of varietal fruit aroma.”

The tainting compounds can’t be washed off. With much less overall skin contact, the juice from white grapes can be quickly extracted and clarified. But, to get the color right, red wines are made with prolonged contact with skins, so taint compounds are a permanent part of the wine.

Filtering and fining techniques have been used to try to clear the juice of offending chemicals but, as Tom Collins, a wine chemist based at ���سԹ�, says, the problem is much deeper. Sugar-sequestered smoke particles are very similar to other desirable compounds. Filtering techniques, such as reverse osmosis, remove both the good and the bad compounds, resulting in a wine that Collins charitably describes as “neutral.” This bland concoction could be blended with unaffected wines to produce something consumable but, even then, trouble lurks.

Over time, the acidity of bottled wine cleaves the sugar from the particle, releasing a new wave of off-flavors and aromas.

Collins points out that not much is really known about smoke taint — except that it tastes nasty and can have a negative impact on the bottom lines of both growers and winemakers.

Collins and his team are engaged in an ongoing project that seeks to answer several big questions: How much smoke exposure, and at what period in grape development, is too much? And what can be done to clean up tainted fruit so that it can be used to make a useful product?

Collins and colleagues have constructed an in-vineyard method of controlling and testing smoke exposure, with the aim of answering the first question. And the second, he suggests, might lie in spit.

Since the enzymes in our saliva can cleave sugars entrapping smoke particles, perhaps a process could be developed using similar, non-saliva derived enzymes to liberate the sugars from the smoke particles, which then might be filtered out by one means or
another.

Research-wise, it’s early days — but the pressure is on. Fires in Australia, California, and Washington state threaten a beloved industry and there is much interest in finding ways to salvage fine wines from tainted grapes.

By Maegan Murray

Wine is a $2 billion industry in Washington state, but many students will not be exposed to the science behind the field as a possible career option until they reach college. Thanks to the Partners in Science program, however, one high school teacher had the opportunity to shadow and complete research alongside a renowned wine science researcher and professor at Washington State University Tri-Cities – the science behind the experience, of which, he is now introducing to his high school students.

Fred Burke, a teacher at Chiawana High School, had the opportunity to shadow and complete research with Tom Collins, wine science researcher and assistant professor of wine science at Washington State University Tri-Cities.

“This experience has allowed me to show my students how the nature of science is more than what they experience through a text book and allow them to experience the techniques and capabilities of it in a real-world setting,” Burke said. “It has not only allowed me to participate in research that will have an impact in the wine industry today, but it also it makes doing science a lot more fun for my students.”

Through the Partners in Science program, which is supported by a $15,000 grant from the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, high school teachers are paired with a university professor in their field and the pair spends two consecutive summers completing research. During the end of each summer experience, the teachers prepare a presentation on their research and how they plan to implement what they learn into their classroom setting. The university professors also get the value of an additional hand in the lab and in the high school teacher’s second summer, an experienced lab researcher to help with their studies.

As part of his research experience, Burke worked with Collins to characterize wine grape varieties using sophisticated research techniques known as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. For the techniques, the researchers use devices that allow researchers to look into the intricate chemical and other properties of each type of grape for classification and categorization. Burke also had the chance to work with Collins to start a study analyzing the impact of wildfire smoke on wine grapes, which could hinder the taste and overall quality of the wine.

“Both projects are relevant to the classes we’re teaching,” Burke said. “In environmental science, we’re able to look at how the smoke impacts not only the wine grapes, but also the chemical components and properties of the wine.”

The study of the impact of wildfire smoke on wine captured the interest of the Washington wine industry, with Collins stating that since they announced they were completing the research, he gets calls throughout the year on updates for the research, results they’ve tabulated and generally how they can protect wine grapes from the exposure. The interest grows each year as the summer wildfire seasons commence.

“We got three calls today, alone, regarding smoke taint,” Collins said. “The fact that Fred has been able to be a part of this project provides him with a great in-depth look at how lab and field research have a substantial impact on industry. The Washington wine industry increases exponentially year, with the mid-Columbia region being a hub for the industry. So this research is crucial for our area’s winemakers.”

Last summer during Burke’s first of two summers working with Collins in the lab, the duo set up experiments at the WSU Prosser Research Extension to test different amounts of smoke on grape vines. They are now in the process of analyzing samples collected from that experiment. Collins plans on continuing the study for at least the next several years.

“Just being able to look at all the parts that go into a real-life field of scientific study has been immensely beneficial,” Burke said. “I get to share that with my students and they benefit from that real-world application. Within their science classes, our students have to conduct procedures, collect data and analyze that data through labs and lessons. This real-world experience allows me to show them that what they’re practicing in class can be applied out into the field, as well as provide them with concrete examples of stuff we’re actively doing in the labs.”

Burke also had the opportunity to bring some of his classes out to the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates WSU Wine Science Center to see how the research is conducted and get an idea of how a research lab operates.

“Science in agriculture is kind of one of those unknowns for many of my students,” he said. “They see people planting and watering, but they don’t know the science behind it. This provides them with an in-depth look. It’s a career option that most of my students probably have never even considered.”

Burke plans to apply for a supplemental grant from the Partners in Science program, which would extend his research partnership time frame with Collins and provide Burke with dollars for science equipment for his classroom.

“It would provide us with more money for use in the classroom, which would allow my students to conduct some research of their own,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity.”