Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/101495
WINEMAKING Crossflow service is also a winery T Though Winetech sells systems, many wineries like using their mobile service, Pu- he winemaking owners of Winetech, He adds, ���The new hollow filter polymers entes said, ���Many wineries could buy the the mobile filtration company that also are more neutral and don���t strip out the fla- equipment, but they prefer to have an expert vors in the wine.��� operate it. It���s not a headache for them; they sells winemaking products and equipment, have an unusually broad perspective about When he came to the U.S., he founded know it will get done.��� Filtration services are crossflow filtering: In addition to provid- Winetech in 1998 with fellow Italians Ste- not available outside the major wine regions, ing filtration services for wineries, they as- fano Migotto and Valentina Guolo-Migotto. however, compelling wineries to buy the semble and sell crossflow systems. And as They assembled their own systems using owners of Ca��� Momi Winery in Napa, they standard parts to overcome the limitations of use the services themselves on their wines. equipment in the East and other areas. the products on the market. ���We tried all the Dario De Conti has experience with the machines for Winetech and came up with our filters in his native Italy. He worked for a own. We wanted to make a system that nev- winery there that used crossflow filtration for er fails, that we could depend on,��� he says. eight years. P.F. They started using the system in 2003. The ���In the late ���80s, when crossflow filters company now sells those systems. started finding wide use for water purifica- He admits, however, that the key to the tion and pharmaceuticals in Europe, the process is the membrane filters and claims polymer membranes weren���t suitable for to have exclusive technology imported from wine���s colloidal structure,��� says De Conti. a company in Europe. Winetech equipment ���It requires a different membrane and tech- processes 400 to 1,500 gallons per hour nology. Also, machine performance wasn���t with a minimum lot of 120 gallons. It works high, so the wine kept recirculating, raising with about 300 wineries, according to ser- the temperature.��� vice manager Juan Puentes. SEE US AT UNIFIED, BOOTH #F2 54 W in es & V i ne s JANUARY 20 13 WineTech takes its mobile crossflow filter to wineries so they don���t have to transport the wine, potentially threatening estate status.