Techniques available to winemakers, especially for those crafting fine white and sparkling wines, have continued to evolve through the years, providing more sophisticated options for fine-tuning the style and complexity of their finished products.
Winemakers frequently use cross-flow filtration for clarification and microbial stabilization of wine. The tangential flow of juice across the filter’s membrane surface limits clogging and allows continuous cleaning of the membrane. This technology is well-suited for wineries seeking very fine clarification during post-fermentation processing.
However, its highly automated machinery can be too expensive for smaller wineries, and its high product loss level is more impactful for small batch processing of high-quality wines.
“Today, these smaller wineries use cross-flows from mobile services or manual systems, very likely pad filters,” says Massimiliano Buiani, Chief Operating Officer for JUCLAS, USA. “Pad filters produce a lot of waste because they absorb the wine, which also impacts negatively on the quality, since they absorb color, aromatics and sometimes even all of the taste. They’re also very intensive in terms of time.”
Buiani adds, “The reason wineries use a cross-flow is that they can operate 24 hours a day because they are automated. That makes sense in a large winery that wants to save labor and time. But is that important in a winery that produces a thousand-gallon batch? No.”
JUCLAS USA is the US branch of the VASONGROUP, Italy’s leading supplier of products and equipment for the wine and beverage industries. The Napa, California, team offers the company’s innovative fermentation and winemaking products, equipment and services to American wineries.
JUCLAS USA recently introduced the cutting-edge Mastermind® Filtration Hybrid (MMF) to provide US makers of red, white, rose and sparkling wines, as well as cider, with a post-fermentation filtration solution that is more affordable and time-efficient than cross-flow. The technology fully respects the original structure of the wine while delivering nearly zero loss to wineries where every milliliter matters.
Mariangela Guarienti, CEO of JUCLAS USA, explains, “MMF’s orthogonal filtration is the same as a cross flow except the flow goes outside in. As a result, there is a lot less pressure, so it is a very, very soft filtration in respect to preserving the nature of wine, making it perfect for very high-quality wines. It’s also on the smaller side, so small-lot wineries with high-quality wines can benefit from this kind of filtration.”
“The reason wineries use a cross-flow is that they can operate 24 hours a day because they are automated. That makes sense in a large winery that wants to save labor and time. But is that important in a winery that produces a thousand-gallon batch? No.“
MMF is the first technology tested with the new AF4 (Asymmetric Flow Field-Flow Fractionation) technique that provides a snapshot of the wine’s colloidal state – its proteins, polysaccharides and tannin. The results for wines filtered with MMF showed an 80% reduction in oxygen uptake compared to a standard cross-flow filtration process. It also found an up to 20% enhancement of foam persistence and creaminess in sparkling wine.
Buiani notes, “Mastermind Filtration Hybrid is perfect for very high-quality lines but also for smaller brands with high-value products. The winemaker is looking for this solution for the softer filtration technique and near-zero loss. With today’s restrictions on capital investment, we can give medium or small wineries access to advanced technology without having to invest a fortune.”
The technology is semi-automatic, with intuitive operation and software monitoring of parameters like flow, pressure and volumes. Buiani calls it “assisted automation,” saying, “it tells you what to do, and if you miss a step, a sensor in each valve detects it and waits until you do it.”
To learn more about how the new MMF technology can benefit your winery, visit www.juclasusa.com or contact them directly at Juclas.USA@vasongroup.com.
