GENOMICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF WILDFIRE SMOKE ON GRAPE COMPOSITION

Smoke exposure during grape ripening can affect the chemical composition of the fruit, resulting in wines with undesirable smoky aromas referred as smoke taint (Summerson et al., 2021). Smoky characteristics are derived from volatile phenols present in the smoke, including guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol, syringols, and cresols. The smoke-derived volatile phenols accumulate as non-volatile glycoconjugates in grapes, suggesting that they are metabolized into stable glycosidic forms through the action of one or several glycosyltransferases (GTs) in the berry.