$4m to smoke out wine taint

PROTECTING valuable wine vintages from smoke taint is one of the core commitments in this year's Budget.

The Victorian Government has committed $4 million to establish a Centre of Expertise to find ways to reduce the impact of smoke taint, which has caused serious losses to grape growers and wineries.

In 2006, the wine industry estimated smoke taint cost it more than $100 million, with some vignerons losing their entire vintage after the grapes were contaminated.

"For this reason we will establish a comprehensive research and development program to help increase understanding of how smoke affects wine composition," Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said.

He said the research would identify smoke taint compounds and their mode of entry into grapevines and fruit, as well as identify the impact of smoke from different fuel types.

"Researchers at the centre for expertise will explore strategies to manage and reduce the uptake of smoke-taint compounds," he said.

"They will also develop and evaluate a risk-assessment tool to enable the wine grape industry and fire and land managers to determine windows of opportunity for control burning that minimise the risk of smoke taint.

"These windows will be based on the sensitivity of different grape varieties and grapevine development stages."