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A grapevine bacteria may help douse wildfire-tainted wine’s ashy aftertaste

Strains found on grape plant leaves can degrade a smoke compound that can wind up in wine 

Grapevines grow in rows in the foreground of this view of a winery, while the sky is filled with smoke from a nearby wildfire. A stucture burns in the background.

Smoke fills the sky over a vineyard in California during the 2019 Kincade fire.

JOSH EDELSON/Contributor/Getty Images

By Carly Kay

Natural bacteria from grape plants might help neutralize the notorious ashy aftertaste that develops after wildfire smoke blankets wine grapes.

A gene from the bacteria Gordonia alkanivorans is involved in breaking down one of the main smoky substances responsible for the unpleasant flavor, researchers report October 1 in PLOS One.