As wildfires become more intense due to climate change, the need for smoke taint prevention has never been more critical.
By Teri van Aalst
In the world of viticulture, the war on smoke taint is getting more intense, especially in fire-prone regions such as Australia, California, Canada and South Africa. As wildfires become more frequent and intense due to climate change, the need for smoke taint prevention has never been more critical. One of the most exciting developments in this space is the research into activated carbon fabric — an innovation that could potentially protect vineyards from smoke damage.
Activated carbon fabric
The concept of using activated carbon fabric for smoke taint prevention emerged in the aftermath of the 2020 wildfires in Australia and the United States. Professor Kerry Wilkinson, a prominent expert at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, was contacted by Peter Michael Winery in California to conduct trials on grape protection. The initial results were remarkable: when activated carbon fabric bags were placed over grape clusters, they blocked significantly more smoke compounds than plastic and paper coverings, which only blocked about 50%. “We were surprised at how well the activated carbon fabric worked,” says Wilkinson. “In our early trials, it blocked up to 98% of smoke compounds even under dense smoke exposure treatments.”
She continues, “The most exciting part of our work right now is the development of this carbon fabric. We’re working with engineers to create a stronger, more robust material that can cover the grapes and withstand the conditions in a vineyard. Ultimately, we want to create carbon fabric netting that can be placed over an entire vineyard. Netting would let sunlight get to the leaves and promote growth. It would also be much easier to apply and be less labor-intensive than activated carbon fabric,” she adds.
Fabric to netting
If shortcomings associated with the activated carbon fabric can be overcome, it would be a game changer for vineyard management.
Transitioning from fabric to netting would mark a significant advancement. The netting needs to be stronger, more durable and capable of withstanding vineyard conditions without losing its absorbent properties. By infusing it with activated carbon, the netting will hopefully serve as both a physical barrier and an absorbent layer, capturing smoke compounds before they reach the grape skins. This netting could cover an entire vineyard, eliminating the need for labor-intensive, vine-by-vine treatments of the current application of the carbon fabric. This approach streamlines the process and significantly reduces labor costs — a major benefit for all vineyard owners.
“If everything were to go well with netting, we could see it rolled out in a couple of years,” says Wilkinson. “This could be the solution the wine industry has been waiting for. It offers a promising new approach to smoke taint prevention.”
As the research continues and the technology develops, the vision of vineyard-wide carbon fabric netting is getting closer, ushering in a new era of smoke taint prevention and making the world’s vineyards increasingly resilient in an ever more volatile climate.
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Teri van Aalst
Teri van Aalst is a wine professional and writer based in South Australia. Living in the McLaren Vale wine region and working at various cellar doors, including some of the most prestigious wineries in South Australia, she has completed all her WSET certifications. She then moved to the Netherlands for a couple of years, where her passion for wine journalism flourished. During her time in Amsterdam, she taught WSET courses and freelanced her expertise to wine bars and urban cellar doors, bringing a wealth of experience and technical knowledge. Now, back in Australia, with her own wine consultancy business, she helps wineries and explores current trends in the wine industry for publication, aiming to shape and evolve the global wine community.
