Musings (mostly of science)

  Imagine you are a winemaker overlooking your 10 acre vineyard. These vines have never failed to produce the caviar of grapes, used to make a wine that reflects the land as much as it does your craft. Just before harvest, a slight shift in the wind blows in wildfire smoke, turning the sky hazy yellow orange. While these grapes are seemingly unscathed, the smoke catalyzes invisible chemical reactions in your grapes. You are told they cannot be used for wine but must be harvested and dropped to compost in place, as you suffer the crushing loss of watching your year-long toils turn to compost. This worst case scenario has been a shared experience of grape growers and wine makers facing unprecedented wildfire events in recent years. Post 2020 wildfire season, the Oregon wine industry lost over two billion dollars and ten thousand jobs, largely attributed to grapes and wine rendered unusable from wildfire smoke. This is why my research is developing the first pre-harvest protective c...