One of the nice things about a wine that is damaged in some way at a larger tasting is the teaching moment. 99.8% of wine drinkers have no clue what smoke tainted wines are and that includes basically all critics. Here is an article I did not too long ago showing all these 90 plus point scores from smoke tainted wines.
What to really look for? You will not get the typical smoke on a “smoke tainted” wine. It will be more of an ash tray aroma/taste. But really the number one way to determine smoke taint is the sensation in your mouth. It is like a really chalky toothpaste and the wine will show no fruit. Many think it is over oaked but not the case. Here is an unfortunate wine recently as this is one of my favorite Washington State producers.
- 2020 L’Ecole No. 41 Apogée Pepper Bridge Vineyard – USA, Washington, Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley (8/8/2025)
Meritage Tasting (Minneapolis, MN): Well was able to teach a group of 12 about smoke taint last night. Most people think the wine is oaky or just in a dumb phase. No this wine is smoke tainted. How do you tell? When swishing it around in your mouth you get a real chalky sensation like a really bad tooth paste. Also no fruit was present in this wine. Anyway since they made it, it is not in the flawed category in my opinion hence a lower score than the community. Muted fruit, earth, ash and dried twigs. As one of my top 10 wineries in Washington I wish they did not make it. Shocking James Suckling gave this 94 points. (74 points)