If wine is cultivated in an area where forest fires occur more often, such as in Australia or Southern Italy, aromas that make the alcoholic drink unpalatable can develop in the finished product. Until now, it wasn’t known why this is so and what happens at the molecular level. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is now describing the reason why the smoke aromas are stored in the grapes and is thus showing the way for growers to eliminate this degradation in quality.