Too many stinkbugs spoil the wine

How many stressed-out stinkbugs does it take to spoil a batch of wine? More than three per grape cluster, new research says.

Stinkbugs are a pest among vintners because of the bugs’ taste for wine grapes and namesake foul smell. When accidentally harvested with the grapes and fermented during the wine-making process, the live insects can release their stink and ruin the wine (SN: 5/5/07, p. 285). The newly determined threshold is three per cluster of grape, researchers from Oregon State University in Corvallis report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. More stinkbugs produced red wine that tasted musty, as judged by a consumer panel. Quality tanked with rising levels of the stress compound, (E)-2-decenal, which smells like coriander.

White wine lovers can rest easy; stinkbugs don’t seem to affect its flavor because white is processed differently than red.