woods fires cause havoc for lots of reason . But something you ’ve probably never conceive about is what they do to wine . Yep , they ruin it – grapes grown near forest fires make vino that tastes like ash tree , and it ’s only detectable after the ruined Cartesian product , which is far too former . Now , researcher experience why and are hoping to save winemakers from this terrible job .
Basically , when grapes grow near fire , smoky aromas get inside them , and these are n’t smoky odour of the unspoiled variety . The molecules become attached to sugar , wee-wee them more piddle soluble , and disguising them from our senses . This is all due to an enzyme call glycosyltransferase .
The enzyme should n’t really be processing bullet aroma mote at all , but it does , and researcher from the Technical University of Munich ( TUM ) , Germany , now know why . Their determination are write in theJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry .
Glycosyltransferase is meant to process something in grape bid resveratrol , which has health - promoting properties . Structurally , resveratrol is like to smoky aroma molecules , so the enzyme treat them in the same means .
Because the molecules in the grapes are bound to saccharify , we ca n’t detect them . But when yeast is added to ferment them and make wine , a problem arises . The mental process differentiate the sugar and olfactory property molecules so that the undesirable flavor develop in the wine-coloured .
" Therefore , it only becomes unmistakable in the ruined vino that the vinery was scupper to a flame and the last merchandise is of poor quality , " pronounce lead source Katja Härtl in astatement .
This is a real trouble for vinery in billet like California , Italy , and Australia , and the new findings could be used to prevent it in future .
" We now lie with how such a taste can develop,“saidstudy author Professor Wilfried Schwab . " In the next step , we can render to cultivate either grape vines with less glycosyltransferase . Or we ’ll add a second sugar to prevent the firing of the bad aroma . "
Another result is that yeasts that do n’t turn the smoke aromas could be used or the barm could be genetically modified . Anyway , in succeeding winemaker should be able to avoid the issue , ensuring good quality wine-colored all rotund . Yay !