There are several important factors with regards to processing smoke taint affected wines. The first factor is processing at the appropriate time, which is as late as possible. For a red, well past ML fermentation, but prior to going into oak. For a white, just prior to going into bottle.

The second factor is treating to the correct level, which should be below sensory detection. Smoke taint may continue to develop in a wine. This is very important, as you may bottle an untreated wine thinking that it has an acceptable level of smoke taint, and find after a year in bottle, the level has increased to a level to make the wine unpalatable. A treated wine will start at a lower level, but also may have some additional smoke taint develop in the bottle.

For example, let’s say we had a wine with 30 ppm of smoke taint. Treating the wine to below sensory level reduces the taint to 7 ppm. Both wines were then bottled, but some additional smoke taint developed in the both bottles, say an additional 10 ppm. The untreated wine now is 40 ppm and unpleasant to drink, while the treated wine would be 17 ppm, still acceptable and saleable.