TCA Detection K9s Trained To Protect Wine Production

July 20, 2020 scentevidencek9

TCA Detection K9s Luca and Bobby recently started their new jobs with Kismet K9 in Oregon. The highly-specialized dogs are trained to detect the compound that can contaminate wine during production. Owners/Handlers Tim and Katy Simanski will utilize their new K9 Team to provide early detection insurance to wineries to reduce costly losses due to TCA contamination in corks, hoses, and other production processes. The two scent detection labs were trained by Scent Evidence K9 and delivered to Oregon.

What is TCA Contamination?

The TCA compound is commonly referred to as “cork taint”, as the contamination has often been traced back to the cork closure. While cork taint can sneak past some people, it can’t hide from our dogs. Luca and Bobby have been specifically trained to sniff out the contaminants. Dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses. To quote a PBS article https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/dogs-sense-of-smell/ Dogs’ sense of smell overpowers our own by orders of magnitude—it’s 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute, scientists say. “Let’s suppose they’re just 10,000 times better,” says James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, who, with several colleagues, came up with that jaw-dropping estimate during a rigorously designed, oft-cited study. “If you make the analogy to vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well.”

Early TCA Detection – Insurance For Winemakers

Here’s how Katy and Tim Simanski, owners of Kismet K9, explain the significant benefits of early TCA detection in wine production.

Wine is hard to make. It is an art, a craft, a science. It requires skill and luck. And you only get one shot a year. All the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making a vintage can be wiped out in an instant; the moment that wine splashes into a TCA contaminated barrel, or runs through a contaminated hose, that work is all for naught. Our dogs are here to prevent that and to protect your investment and livelihood. A quick sniff from Luca or Bobby can put your mind at ease and protect your reputation for providing a quality product. Trained by Scent Evidence K9, you can rely on these two for accurate results.

“Luca and Bobby have been training for their new jobs since they were very young and their abilities to protect wine production processes by detecting contaminants will help decrease valuable industry losses,” said Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley.

“We are proud to be a part of this exciting journey with Kismet K9 and TCA Scent Detection adds another layer to our capabilities to train K9s to detect agriculture and environmental threats, stated Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley.

Learn more about Kismet K9 TCA Detection HERE