Wines & Vines

April 2013 Oak Alternatives Issue

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g WINE g rAoKw i n g rape M ING "seeding"), and with or without mixing, followed by separation of wine from precipitated or added crystals. These cellar ionic reduction methods allow for overcoming the nucleation and crystal growth energy and kinetic limitations of passive cold hold treatments through seeding with powdered bitartrate and/or mixing. The effectiveness of these input enhancements can vary greatly, depending on the size and number of seed particles introduced and the ability to provide mixing capable of overcoming diffusion limitations. Completely engineered systems that control these variables and also quickly remove stabilized wine from crystals before any melting can occur are commercially available. This includes both batch tartrate stabilization and continuous tartrate stabilization (CTS) processes. C. Rapid contact seeding — high concentrations of cream of tartar at refrigerated temperatures (but warmer than above), either using tank batch/ seed/mix/filter techniques similar to above, or using crystallized beds, including fluidized crystallizers, with separation of wine from precipitated or added crystals. 56 p r acti c al w i ne ry & v i ne yard APRIL 20 13 Among the concentration reduction methods, these methods maximize efficiency on the crystallization side (with overwhelming nucleation and crystal growth power) to reduce the need to artificially concentrate the apparent ion concentrations through temperature drops. This allows for effective ion reduction at relatively warmer temperatures compared to traditional methods using less crystallization power. D. Crystallizer and filtration technologies — maximizing temperature and seeding effects. These are batch or continuous methods similar in principle to "active cold holding with inputs" and "rapid contact seeding" methods which aim to maximize all aspects of the underlying chemistry, kinetics, and physics. These methods maximize the effective concentration of the ions through temperature, use large volume of seed with very high surface area, optimize mixing, minimize fouling and quickly separate the wine from crystals prior to melting. Cellar Treatment Category II: Ionic species reduction by other methods (non-precipitation) Separation and resin-based exchange technologies allow for the reduction of The Kristalstop continuous cold stabilization system from Padovan is an example of crystallizer/filtration technology. Source: ATP the ionic concentrations without relying on the precipitation of the salts. It has been proposed that these processes might disturb the equilibrium between ionic species and complexing agents. As elaborated in Part I, the ionic species can be weakly associated to molecules such as proteins or tannins, or even to metal ions. Some processes may disturb these weak bonds, resulting in more active concentrations of ionic species until the equilibrium is re-established, if at all.

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