ConeTech’s efforts to create a smoke taint removal process that could remove both free and bound compounds began in 2016. In 2018 after 2 years of research, a commercial solution was offered to winemakers throughout California.  

Utilizing a combination of technologies and new methodology, ConeTech developed a process to remove smoke compounds while preserving over 95% of desirable flavor and aroma compounds.  

Using expertise from outside the wine industry ConeTech  identified an out-of-state sprits lab to create a standardized ConeTech panel used for testing smoke tainted wines. 

In 2019 alone ConeTech successfully removed smoke taint in over 1 million gallons of affected wine.

ConeTech's proprietary smoke taint removal process was awarded the WINnovations Award in 2019 for excellence in wine industry innovation.

About the Analytics

Key to ConeTech’s breakthrough in removing smoke taint is an analytical rigor that previously was not standard for commercial application with smoke tainted wine. ConeTech utilizes analytic techniques, provided by an Illinois laboratory, specializing in chromatographic separation analysis. ConeTech selected 30 specific compounds and their glycosidically bound counterparts for analysis based on research findings and their relevance to smoke taint. All compounds were analyzed with extreme accuracy, to one tenth of a part per billion through the Illinois lab. Our proprietary analysis shows that both bound and free compounds are removed through ConeTech’s process. Continued analytics over time indicate that wines processed with ConeTech’s removal method have not seen the return of offending compounds.

About the Smoke Taint Removal System

ConeTech drew upon other industries for out-of-the-box solutions. These included the identification of a hyper-selective matrix with specific affinity for the offending compounds and a custom-designed chamber whose interior optimizes the wine’s passage across the active elements in the matrix.

Analytical Results

• Analysis representative of a typical smoke tainted wine lot from the  over 1 million gallons ConeTech has commercially processed to date. 
• Compounds shown in the data table are most commonly identified in smoke tainted wines.
• Continued analytics over time indicate that wines processed with volatile compounds.