Архив Категории: blog ru

The mysterious world of Jerez wines seems to be out of time. Its century-old traditions provide us with wines as delicious as unique. No wonder then, that Jerez winemakers are careful when it comes to modern winemaking technologies. The STARS® tartaric stabilization technology has recently proven itself able to provide an alternative to cold stabilization for the whole range of Jerez wines.

Unique winemaking techniques

Jerez wines start out, for most of them, just like any white wine of the year. At the end of vinification, most of it receives a fortification to reach 15% alcohol before it joins directly the solera system of American oak barrels, where it is mixed with older wines and submitted to a flor aging. Flor (“flower”) is the name given to the natural veil of indigenous yeasts that forms on top of wine when exposed to oxygen in the Andalusian bodegas. It causes a biological aging of the wine (as opposed to oxidative aging) and is one of the keys to the exceptional tastes of Jerez wines. Another exceptional characteristic of Jerez wines is their diversity. Jerez winemakers have been very creative, mixing and matching a variety of dry wines and natural sweet wines with Jerez brandies. As a result, Jerez holds a whole universe of wines, from the driest to the sweetest, the palest to the darkest, the subtlest to the heartiest.

A pain point in a century-old process

No matter how diverse, Jerez wines share common points: a limited set of varietals, solera and flor, the impact of barrel aging, and, of course, the maestria of Jerez winemakers. Another common point is that, in spite of their relatively long aging in American oak barrels, Jerez wines still need to undergo tartaric stabilization. And that step can get tough. With high alcohol content (over 15%), those wines have a low congelation point. As a result, static cold stabilization is time consuming, and continuous cold stabilization is energy consuming. No wonder then that alternatives for tartaric stabilization would generate some interest in Andalusia. This is what happened with the STARS® technology: over a year ago, a famous Jerez winery was the first ever to try it out on a manzanilla, a palomino wine from the Sanlucar de Barameda district. The trial was a success and in October 2020, in another round of trials, 2 other great Jerez names successfully stabilized a range of wines with STARS®: cream, oloroso, fino dulce, fino sobretabla… The local support and advocacy of SECOVISA was key to organizing the trials, which were realized with a Gemstab Servicios Vinicolas trailer.

STARS®: a viable solution for the whole range of Jerez wines

In spite of being undeniably exceptional and diverse, and in spite of the relative difficulty to stabilize them with cold, Jerez wines are easily stabilized with STARS®. STARS® is a membrane-based technology that extracts the ions that are responsible for tartaric precipitation: tartrate, potassium and calcium. It is a continuous, tank to tank process that happens at winery temperature – so, unlike with cold stabilization, alcohol content doesn’t impact the efficiency of the process. Sugar content also does not affect STARS® stabilization. STARS® offers winemakers a precise control on the level of ion extraction, all while preserving wine quality. Finally, it seems Jerez winemakers have found an alternative to cold stabilization that makes the tartaric stabilization step painless and as smooth as a cream.

Отправляемся на юг Барселоны, в кооператив Vila Rodona, винодельня с вековой историей, которая не забывает о новинках. На самом деле стремление к инновациям не является вопросом возврата, но объясняется характером.  Кооперативная винодельня Vila Rodona, основанная в 1919 году, доказала это, осуществив вместе с командами OENODIA и TecnoEquip  первый в истории удаленный ввод в эксплуатацию оборудования STARS.

Кооперативная винодельня Vila Rodona расположена в колыбели выдающейся архитектуры в стиле модерн — каталонская версия Нового искусства. Но настоящее сокровище находится в емкостях и бутылках, которые терпеливо ждут момента, когда их можно будет продегустировать: Vila Rodona является производителем Кава — игристого вина, произведенного по классическому методу из сортов винограда Макабеу, Пареллада и Шардонэ. В 2008 году Vila Rodona установила новое оборудование для выдержки и розлива вина, оснащенное самыми современными технологиями, которое позволит усовершенствовать качество вин. В конце 2019 года Vila Rodona решила приобрести оборудование STARS60, чтобы еще эффективнее и быстрее реагировать на потребности своих заказчиков. Несмотря на эпидемию COVID-19, TecnoEquip и Oenodia объединили усилия со специалистами винодельни, чтобы обеспечить доставку и ввод в эксплуатацию оборудования в мае 2020 года. Таким образом, Oenodia произвела первый за всю свою историю удаленный ввод в эксплуатацию  оборудования, успех который был бы невозможен  без поддержки команды TecnoEquip на площадке, полного отдачи от специалистов и, разумеется, доверия со стороны руководства кооператива.

Оперативный подход, позволяющий удалено ввести в эксплуатацию оборудование STARS® , является  неоспоримым конкурентным преимуществом нашей компании для адаптации к все более  глобализованному и нестабильному рынку.

The southern State of Rio Grande do Sul produces 90% of Brazilian wine. The harvest period there is one of the longest in the worlds, lasting over 3 months. Let’s cast a light on the 2020 vintage.

Every year, the harvest starts in December with the earlier varietals: Pinot noir, Chardonnay et Riesling itálico. They’ll make up the bulk of base wines for Brazilian sparkling wines, the lovely local “espumantes».

In January, Pinot noir and Chardonnay for still wines are harvested. Merlot comes up early February; eventually, end of February and early March, Marselan, Cabernet and Tannat join the rest of the gang in the fermentation tanks.

Source / Crédit: [2]

The 2019-2020 Brazilian summer allowed for a late harvest. It was dry – rains were infrequent, sporadic and very local – and let the grapes ripen fully and reach a good balance between sugar and acidity. The average grape sugar rate improved notable, from 13°Babo in 2019 to 16°Babo in 2020 (from 14,5 to 17,8° Brix). “This is the best harvest of the last 20 years”, marvels Mauro Zanus, an agronomist for the Brazilian agronomic research institute Embrapa Uva e Vinho.

This, according to Jason McConnell, Owner and Winemaker at RIVINO Winery, following his first time utilizing Oenodia’s STARS_XF^®, which streamlines wine stabilization with crossflow filtration in a single pass.

April 22, 2020.  Napa, CA.  STARS_XF^® is part of the STARS Line of technologies, pairing OENODIA’s specific crossflow filter with their STARS_Stab unit.   Over the past few months, several winemakers have employed the process through OENODIA’s STARS Mobile Service.  A few have offered insight into their experience and its effectiveness in delivering a continuous process of filtration directly followed by tartrate stabilization.

Jason McConnell was among these winemakers who utilized the technology.  He had seen it used at another winery and was impressed by how quickly and efficiently the cold stability process could be conducted.  Ashley Highland, Consultant Winemaker from J Curtis, who also utilized the technology for the first time, had been watching STARS_XF^® for a while.  “When I stepped into a friend’s winery in Washington and they were running their STARS_XF^® machine, I noticed how polished the wines looked and thought how wonderful it was that you can filter and stabilize in one pass.”

By merging the two processes into a single pass, STARS_XF^® delivers the well-known advantages of both technologies, eliminating DE and KHT seeding but also reducing drastically both the cold stabilization stage, and the wine losses.  In addition, from a planning perspective, when you need a mobile service to handle both the crossflow filtration and the tartaric stabilization of your wines, it is much easier to plan when you have only one contact person.

“The process sped up the preparation time needed pre-bottling and left the wine more whole organoleptically” said Ashley.   McConnell agreed, “We were able to get our wines to market faster than ever before.” He added “The wines tasted great and have over the months since the trial, tasted even better.”

STARS_XF^® also offers operational flexibility and easier tank management while retaining respect for the wines.  “I have had tanks that were on cold for 6+ weeks and the DO pick-up they had, regardless of daily gassing, was too big for comfort.” Ashley said.  “In addition to the draw on electricity” she added “I felt like there must be a better way for the wine and the environment.  It is hard on a wine to be held so cold and then seeded, I would sometimes see cot strip the wine in a small way.”

Following her experience with STARS_XF^® Ashley noted “I purchase wine from all over the West coast and have to tanker the wine to a central location for blending and finishing. To have one less move is better for the wine’s quality. It was an extreme cost savings to crossflow and cold stab at the same time. Less than half the cost of filtration and traditional cold stabilization. Better for the wine and better for energy consumption”.

In conclusion, with respect to overall satisfaction both Jason and Ashley were conclusive in their opinion.  Ashland was “beyond satisfied and I will use this in the future on all my wines where applicable.”

Jason went further adding: “I was completely satisfied with all aspects of the operation and hopefully will be able to purchase a unit for our new winemaking facility. Until that happens we will also be return customers for using their mobile service.  I would definitely recommend this service and/or purchasing this equipment.”

For technical information, availability or service, contact Damien Monnet, Business Development Manager for OENODIA at Damien.monnet@oenodia.com at 707-302-4554 or STARS Mobile Service Manager, Cliff Burmester at Cliff.burmester@oenodia.com, 707-666-2049.  Or visit them online at www.oenodia.us