You’ve got the juice: we’ve got the Stars® to make it stable.

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Our Stars® technology can stabilize grape juice as well as wine. Let’s zoom in on how one of our US customers gets his juice flowing from the berry to the bottle.

Healthier than sodas and just as refreshing, fruit juices are on the rise. Within the global beverage industry, the fruit juice segment is one of the fastest growing with an expected 6% annual growth rate between 2018 and 2025[1] – and grape juice is not sitting on the sidelines. With a wholesome, natural image and mounting evidence regarding health benefits[2], grape juice consumption is on the rise.

However, despite substantial growth (and an expected + 2% annually until 2023[3]), the grape juice market is tough. Global competition, unpredictable harvest variations and growing expectations from industrial buyers and customers alike mean that each producer is seeking to grow and maintain its competitive edge. For one of our US-based customers, this means developing the high-end segment of NFC (not from concentrate) juice and making sure the product arrives and remains picture-perfect, aka tartrate crystal-free, on the shelves of USA’s biggest retailers.

 

How does the Stars® technology fit in our customer’s grape juice production process? The fresh, ripe grapes are harvested and taken to the production plant. They are then cleaned, sorted and crushed before being pressed. The juice undergoes clarification, after which it is Stars®-stabilized.

What drew our customer to the Stars® technology? Compared to cold stabilization, Stars® is first of all incredibly more reliable – knowing that cold stab hardly allows to reach required stability levels. Moreover, Stars® saves time, energy and money. Notably, the cut in juice loss drastically slashes costs.  Gone as well the costs of the time-eating, energy-greedy, cold-holding step. Last but not least, the Stars® technology’s unrivalled reliability ensures no product return due to tartrate issues – quite an asset in a fiercely competitive market.

[1] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fruit-vegetable-juice-market

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728694/

[3] https://www.statista.com/outlook/20030500/102/grape-juice/europe

 

Bubbles & Stars®: cheers to the Stars® technology settling in Champagne

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The Mumm & Perrier-Jouët Champagne group organized a winemaking seminar during which Mumm unveiled the latest innovation to enter their winery: a complete Stars® production line, with a crossflow filtration system paired with a tartaric stabilization unit. Champagne-based journalist and blogger Sophie Claeys wrote about the day – which also highlighted Perrier-Jouët’s unique identity and the group’s efforts towards sustainable viticulture : find her article (in French only, alas) here.

OENODIA’s Revolutionary STARS Technology recognized by top Champagne brand

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STARS Technology offers more than just stabilization to Sparkling Wine Producers – helps with disgorging, adjusting pH and lowering calcium!

OENODIA, the oenology division of Eurodia Industrie SAS, one of the world’s leading specialists of membrane-based treatments for the global agri-food industry, has been providing the breakthrough STARS technology for wine producers for the last 20 years.

STARS technology is not only well suited for red or white wines, but it also presents huge benefits for sparkling wines too which is why it has long been used by many sparkling wine producers worldwide. Such countries as Italy for Prosecco or Spain for CAVA and in the U.S. too, several top sparkling brands have been processing their wines with STARS technology for many years.

The trend towards growth looks set to continue with the first OENODIA STARS XF being commissioned in Champagne, at MUMM’s historic facility in Reims, France, this month.

STARS stands for Selective Tartrate Removal System. It refers to a membrane-based process, unique to OENODIA, that offers winemakers a controlled and measured extraction of potassium, calcium and tartrates from the wine prior to bottling.

Winemakers have long lauded the OENODIA STARS technology for providing 100% guaranteed stability, with zero wine loss, measurable energy savings and without the addition of additives, while ensuring the complete removal of the tartrate crystals that many consumers find objectionable in the finished wine.

Furthermore, in addition to these benefits, STARS technology can play a vital role in the sparkling wine process, as it enables you to lower overall pH and to effectively remove calcium. Indeed, calcium can cause headaches for winemakers long after the wine leaves production.

“Calcium crystallization is a new and growing issue worldwide, with no clear scientific explanation so far,” explains OENODIA’s Sales Manager Fabien Requillard. “It’s particularly important for sparkling wine. Calcium doesn’t respond to chilling. It may appear in the wine aging on lees, promoting extra gushing while disgorging and leading to additional wine losses. Some wineries have also seen problems with late calcium crystallization on supermarket shelves years afterward, a crippling non-quality that had never reached the final consumer beforehand. STARS technology then turns out to be essential to prevent such hazards on the marketplace.”

Requillard notes that the beauty of STARS is a guaranteed reduction of calcium concentration, while simultaneously removing tartrates and potassium from the wine solution regarding standard potassium crystallization.

He points out that the Mumm facility in France first implemented a STARS mobile service to confront the calcium issue on a trial basis. Among the reduction in wine loss from 1.5% to zero compared to chilling, they also realized another 1.5% wine savings by cutting down gushing while disgorging. Following the successful trials that were done over the past 3 years, Mumm management decided to invest in a STARS XF unit, the unique in-line combination between a STARS Stab unit and a crossflow filter to streamline their process.

“Producers are realizing that with STARS, they reduce or eliminate wine loss and see a huge saving in energy costs,” Requillard affirms. “Chilling, which is the most common alternative to our membrane-based technology, uses up to 90 percent more energy in the process. Energy and water savings mean money saving.”

OENODIA is the exclusive developer of the STARS Line which features three cutting edge technologies that have revolutionized the global wine industry: STARS STAB, STARS pH and STARS XF.

STARS STAB guarantees immediate and permanent tartrate stabilization via Electrodialysis (ED) with no additives and no adverse effects on sensory characteristics; STARS pH uses the innovative, membrane-based technology to allow you to dial in your pH, to adjust the pH in your wine and must naturally and with precision; STARS XF merges crossflow filtration with STARS to allow continuous filtration and stabilization of wine with no intermediate tank or multiple control function requirements, which facilitates rapid, automated processing.

For more information on OENODIA and its groundbreaking STARS technology and its STARS Mobile Service, go to oenodia.us or stop by their BOOTH #2406 at the Unified Symposium in Sacramento, January 30th thru 31st, 2019 to talk directly with representatives.

A STARS shining in Alentejo

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Mid-Feburary, our technical team went to Adega de Borba’s cooperative winery, in the heart of Alentejo, in order to provide the winemaking team with a training for their new equipment: a STARS30 unit for tartaric stabilization. A full week of constructive discussions allowed us to discover a leading winery in a history-rich region.

Alentejo: that Beauty is not Sleeping

Landing in Lisbon, ignoring the coast – thus disregarding the most typical touristic guidebook recommendations – and heading straight to the Spanish border. Welcome in Alentejo, a region covering the biggest part of the southern half of Portugal, east of Lisbon. The cities may seem quiet and the nature untouched, but don’t let that fool you: in Alentejo, slow and steady wins the race. Peaceful streets hide historical treasures, impressive monuments, a cuisine both rustic and on point, and wineries where liquid gems are in the making.

Wines with a personality

Alentejo’s riches can be found raw in its nature: the region produces marble and cork; its soils, made up of schist, granite and limestone are the perfect playing field for winemaking. Across history, royals and noble families took notice and established their holiday quarters in Evora or Vila Viçosa. Nowadays, wine lovers, blue blood or not, can enjoy Alentejo’s brews – and there are many. Red blends give the leading role to trincadeira, aragonez (tempranillo’s Portuguese moniker) and alicante bouschet, the latter being responsible for the reds’ ink-like intensity. Shyraz and cabernet-sauvignon are also given a chance to shine. White wines rely on arinto, roupeiro, and antao vaz’ head-turning aroma. About a million hectolitres are produced on the 22 000 hectares of the DO Alentejo – three quarters of it being red wines. Adega de Borba, with a 120 000hl production, is a key player in the region, in size as much as in name.

Adega de Borba : a pioneering tradition

Though it was encouraged by public policies, founding the cooperative winery in 1955 was a risky bet: winemaking was then carrying very little weight Alentejo’s grain-based economy. The bet was a winning one: today, Adega de Borba brings together 300 members over 2000 hectares, and employs 62 people. Of course, terroir and grape quality are at the root of success, but much more was needed to turn an asset into an achievement: a taste for innovation and constant improvement and a smart use of modern know-hows and technologies have been in Adega de Borba’s DNA for over fifty years. First, the winery looks much younger than it really is: careful maintenance and hygiene can work wonders, together with very modern, high-end equipment, among which a crossflow filter and an FT-IR analyser. The winery’s quality system could make some large industrial groups jealous. Adega de Borba is involved is many research projects. A new site for production and storage has been bought recently. A quest for efficiency, respect for the environment and the search of ease of use are guiding principles for the team, both in the day to day grind and in bigger decisions and investments. It was thus only natural for Adega de Borba to switch to membrane-based tartaric stabilization.

 STARS30: energy savings and ease of use

Acquiring a STARS30 unit will allow Borba’s team to break free from cold stabilization and its shortcomings (notably energy consumption and heavy work for the cellar hands).

The winery also expects increased reliability, flexibility and a protected wine quality – with much less oxygen dissolution than with cold stabilization. Adega de Borba uses cutting edge technologies to give its terroir the spotlight, and the result is worth it: warm, supple and full reds, fragrant and fresh whites, with an unbeatable value for your money.

Nós recomendamos. Bem-vindos ao Alentejo!

With TecnoEquip on Enomaq 2019: a week-long immersion in the Spanish market

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At the beginning of March, our sales team headed to Zaragoza for the Enomaq fair, the key show for vineyard and winery equipment in the whole Iberic peninsula.

On a booth with our Spanish partners, TecnoEquip and Gemstab Servicios Vinícolas, we were able to share information and develop contacts old and new in a pleasant atmosphere, between cava and tapas. At the end of the show, we had to bid farewell to the STARS30 unit that had been exhibited on the stand – it was leaving for Portugal to settle down at a new client’s. 2019 is off to a vigorous start for Oenodia and our partners in the peninsula.

OENODIA’s Revolutionary STARS Technology recognized by top Champagne brand

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STARS Technology offers more than just stabilization to Sparkling Wine Producers – helps with disgorging, adjusting pH and lowering calcium! OENODIA, the oenology division of Eurodia Industrie SAS, one of the world’s leading specialists of membrane-based treatments for the global agri-food industry, has been providing the breakthrough STARS technology for wine producers for the last […]

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Oenodia is getting bigger

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The holiday season is full of convenient excuses to gather around good food and fine wines – rest assured that the Oenodia team took the opportunity to enjoy a leisurely evening in a nice restaurant in Aix-en-Provence at the end of December 2018. A festive meal to welcome new team members Almost everyone in Oenodia’s […]

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PG&E studies electrodialysis for cold stability

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California’s 1,100 wineries produce 500 million gallons of some of the world’s finest wines. In the process, they consume around 400 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity every year — the equivalent of powering almost 60,000 homes. More than 25% of this electricity is spent on clarification-stabilization, the final step in which tartaric acid is reduced through energy-intensive refrigeration.
As an alternative to refrigeration, some winemakers are using electrodialysis, a technology developed in Europe in the early 1990s. The titratable acidity (tartaric, citric, malic and ascorbic acid concentrations) is unchanged. Potassium bitartrate and calcium tartrate salts are removed from solution.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) commissioned two studies at California wineries, with the goal of determining the most energy-efficient methods to stabilize wines. The first study, which took place at Fetzer Vineyards (Hopland, CA), compared the energy consumption of electrodialysis to that of cold stabilization. The second study compared the energy efficiency of cold stabilization at Fetzer Vineyards to that at another site, where cold stabilization was enhanced by seeding, using insulated tanks, and other factors.
Despite using more water, the electrodialysis process was found to be up to
99%more energy efficient than cold stabilization, using eight watt-hours (Wh) per gallon to stabilize the wine versus 22 to 1,200Wh per gallon for the cold stabilization process (whether tanks are insulated or not). For uninsulated tanks, it is 95%of 1,200Wh per gallon; for insulated tanks, it is 95%of 22Wh/gal.

Energy efficiency of the cold stabilization process varied greatly depending on a number of factors, including tank insulation, wine type, seeding, and duration of stabilization. Electrodialysis was shown to maintain wine quality, reduce wine loss, and reduce processing time from weeks to days.
Electrodialysis stabilized wine in just a little over one day, while the cold stabilization system that included seeding and tank insulation required five days. The unenhanced cold stabilization system took a full 46 days.
PG&E and Fetzer Vineyards: energy efficiency partners
These studies are part of PG&E’s Emerging Technologies (ET) program, which identifies, assesses, and brings to market the next generation of energy-efficiency solutions for Californians at home, at work, and in industry. ET works with a wide range of customers who have opened their homes or businesses to host these studies.
Working with PG&E, Fetzer Vineyards tested electrodialysis as part of the winery’s goal of adopting innovative and sustainable viticulture and winemaking methods. The mobile trailer-mounted “STARS” ED unit was provided by Winesecrets (Napa, CA).
“We have been very pleased to participate with PG&E in this electrodialysis study,” says Ann Thrupp, Fetzer sustainability manager. “As innovators in sustainable winegrowing practices, we hope this kind of information can be useful to others who are interested in saving energy and gaining efficiency benefits from new technologies.”
Science behind tartrate stabilization
As the final step before bottling, stabilization reduces the concentration of potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar) in wine. For customers, this means no “wine diamonds” will be visible at the bottom of a chilled bottle of wine. Traditionally, this is accomplished by chilling the wine to around 27°F for a period of 1½ to 3 weeks, depending on how quickly the potassium bitartrate is crystallized.

BY Steve Fok, PE
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
https://www.practicalwinery.com/sepoct08/page1.htm