By Laurie Wachter
Wildfires have been escalating in frequency and intensity for decades. North America’s West Coast experienced dramatic increases in fires in the 2020s, leading to growing winery concerns about wine losses from smoke. Australia also dealt with expanding bushfires, including the 2019-2020 Black Summer when they raged across 13 million acres.
Impacted wineries in both countries began searching for solutions to smoke-tainted grapes, which took them to the doorstep of amaea, a cutting-edge technology company in New Zealand. amaea was founded in 2011 to innovate in the field of molecular technology.
A targeted solution for smoke taint
Amaea’s chemists and engineers accepted the challenge and launched their answer to the need for smoke remediation late last year. amaea VPx is a single-pass, low-pressure filtration system that uses molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to target and remove the free volatile phenols and thiophenols responsible for smoke aroma and flavor.
Existing methods of removing smoke taint, such as reverse osmosis or carbon, can negatively impact the wine’s quality by stripping away desirable sensory characteristics from the wine. In addition, while they reduce the smoke initially, it can return.
In contrast, amaea VPx’s selective targeting helps preserve the integrity of the wine’s varietal character and body even as it removes the molecules causing smoke taint. Analytics conducted on a commercial treatment of 65,000 gallons of 2023 smoke-impacted Oregon Pinot Noir showed a 17–40% removal of guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol, cresols and phenol. In addition, another study of 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir wines filtered for smoke taint using amaea VPx’s MIPs revealed that the concentration of free smoke marker compounds had not increased after a year.
“Our primary goal is to reduce targeted phenols without stripping away positive characteristics, helping winemakers restore the desired sensory profile of the wine,” explains Eric Uganecz, amaea’s industry lead in North America. “The objective is not to eliminate all phenols, but to lower them to levels below sensory thresholds, ensuring the wine returns to its optimal state.”
Beyond smoke remediation
It is this ability for winemakers to selectively target and capture undesirable molecules and how much they want to remove that makes MIPs such a leap forward for winemakers.
Since the launch of amaea VPx, the company has expanded its portfolio to address polyphenol fining to balance sensory characteristics including bitterness, astringency and mouthfeel, as well as pyrazine, frost taint and Brettanomyces remediation.
Dr. Caroline Merrell, winemaking technical services manager at Jackson Family Wines, shares that, “One area where we see a lot of potential is replacing single-use fining agents with reusable media, such as amaea’s MIPs. During a recent trial on hard-pressed white wine, amaea’s MIP treatment decreased bitterness and was preferred sensorially over wines treated with traditional fining agents. The results were impressive and will allow us to simultaneously improve quality in select wines while decreasing waste from single-use inputs.”
amaea’s VPx and other innovative MIP solutions will clearly have a lasting impact on the wine industry.
amaea will be hosting a tasting at the upcoming WIN Expo for those interested in tasting the results.
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Laurie Wachter
Laurie Wachter is a leader in analytics, consumer behavior and direct-to-consumer marketing, having worked with companies such as Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Catalina Marketing and Circana. Based in Northern California’s Wine Country, she writes about the business of food, wine and beverages for a global client base.
