Amelioration of Smoke‐Tainted Wine Using Spinning Cone Column Distillation and Activated Carbon

Background and Aims Rising global temperatures exacerbate the risk of vineyard exposure to smoke from bushfires, which can lead to smoky characters in finished wine known as ‘smoke taint’. This study aimed to use spinning cone column (SCC) distillation in combination with activated carbon (AC) addition to remedy smoke‐tainted wines. Methods and Results SCC distillation (at a low ‘strip’ rate) was employed as a pretreatment, fractionating smoke‐tainted wines into a desirable aroma and flavour fraction captured as ‘condensate’ and ‘stripped wine’, which was subsequently treated with AC. Treated stripped wine and condensate were recombined, resulting in wines with improved sensory profiles compared with the direct addition of AC to smoke‐tainted wines without SCC distillation. Compositional analysis revealed that AC treatment achieved comparable removal of smoke taint compounds from smoke‐tainted wine and stripped wine fractions, whereas sensory analysis indicated the addition of condensate to AC‐treated stripped wine restored aroma and flavour attributes, enhancing fruit expression. Conclusions Research findings demonstrate the efficacy of combining SCC distillation with AC treatment to remediate smoke‐tainted wine. Significance of the Study Smoke taint continues to threaten the economic viability of commercial grape and wine production. This study proposes an innovative solution to mitigating the compositional and sensory impacts of vineyard smoke exposure.