The spread of viticulture into fire-prone regions, like BC’s Okanagan valley, has resulted in the need for a better understanding of how grape on-vine smoke exposure affects the aroma and flavour of the resulting wines. Since current climate models predict an increase in the incidence and severity of forest-fires, it is likely that this issue of “smoke taint” or “smoke aroma” in grapes and wines will become increasingly problematic for BC’s vineyards and wineries. The combustion of wood produces a plethora of phenolic compounds, such as guaiacol, that are major contributors to the aroma of smoke. The exposure of ripening grapes to forest-fire smoke changes the volatile phenol composition of the berry, resulting in wines characterized by an unpleasant smoky or ashy taste that is unacceptable to consumers. Owing to the potential for significant financial losses due to smoke-tainted wines there is an obvious need for analytical tools to predict the sensory properties of wine made from potentially smoke-tainted grape juice prior to fermentation. Additionally, a clearer understanding of the biochemistry of smoke-affected fruit is essential for developing strategies to ameliorate the impact of smoke exposure on grapes. No analytical test has been developed that can predict the smoke-aroma of finished wines on the basis of the amounts of volatile smoke-derived phenolics in grapes. Even current tests based on the quantification of these volatile phenolic compounds in finished wines are between 50 to 80 percent predictive of the sensory attributes of these smoke-tainted wines. One major reason for the unsatisfactory predictive ability of current analytical tests is that volatile, smoke-flavoured phenolics are often sequestered within grapes as their corresponding glycosides, which are not reliably detected, either taste/smell or by traditionally used analytical methods. It is appreciated how other classes of compounds linked to positive wine aromas, such as terpenoids and norisoprenoids, are stored within grapes as their non-volatile glycosides and subsequently released during fermentation and ageing. Based on our understanding of the biochemistry of these grape metabolites, we hypothesize (i) that like numerous other plant secondary metabolites, volatile phenolic compounds are stored within ripening grapes as their poorly-detected and un-flavoured glycosides. (ii) Furthermore, we propose that grape varietals vary in the specific volatile phenolic-glycosides they produce in response to smoke exposure. (iii) Finally, we hypothesize that these phenolic-glycosides differ in their susceptibly to both enzymatic and chemical break down (hydrolysis) during fermentation. Addressing these hypotheses will significantly contribute to producing an accurate and rapid analytical method for predicting wine-quality issues associated with smoke-affected fruit, and also lay a foundation for future research on the development of remedial strategies to minimize the negative organoleptic properties of wines produced from smoke-affected grapes. In order to test these hypotheses we have initiated a series of controlled field experiments (August-October 2016) that form the basis for several parallel smoke-aroma studies of which this BCWGC Research Proposal is part.