Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/754815
December 2016 WINES&VINES 75 WINE EAST WINEMAKING For the filling operations, just over half of the filler types were gravity-fed hand-operated units, which were used by mostly small wineries. The other wineries employed automated systems. Closure operations were accomplished by semi-automatic or automatic machines at 10 wineries, while the others were manual. Seven of the automated lines used some pre-evacuation process to reduce the oxygen level in the bottled wines. These bottle pre-evacuation practices in- cluded flushing with inert gas (N 2 or CO 2 ) and/ or vacuum filling. Within this category, one win- KEY POINTS Oxygen can negatively impact wine quality at a number of points during the winemaking pro- cess. The study described here looked at the dissolved oxygen in wines during bottling and then in the finished wine at four intervals up to 126 days after bottling. Wine samples were collected during bottling as finished wine from 14 commercial wineries in three regions of Ohio. The wineries varied in size, procedures and equipment used to pack- age wines. The study looked at dissolved oxygen in the holding tank and at bottling. The amount of headspace and dissolved oxygen in that head- space was analyzed, as was the total package oxygen (dissolved oxygen and headspace oxygen). Free SO 2 and total SO 2 also were measured, as was the pH of the wines. The overall results indi- cate that many wineries need to improve their techniques for managing oxygen levels, both before and during bottling. What's in the Package? Bill Lutz, Founder, Waterloo Container • Customer service before and after the sale • Experience to solve your problems • Extensive expertise in the wine packaging industry • Personalized inventory management and delivery planning • Package Branding Solutions 888-539-3922 • waterloocontainer.com DESCRIPTION AND BOTTLING OPERATIONS OF WINERIES IN STUDY Winery Winery Size Filler Type Closure Operation Bottle Evacuation Headspace Treatment Closure Type A Medium Automated Automatic Vacuum/N 2 Vacuum/N 2 Synthetic B Large Automated Automatic N 2 Vacuum Synthetic C Large Automated Automatic Vacuum/N 2 Vacuum/N 2 Synthetic D Small Gravity Manual None None Synthetic E Medium Gravity Semi. Auto. None None Synthetic F Small Gravity Automatic N2 Vacuum 1+1 G Small Gravity Manual None None Screwcap H Small Gravity Semi. Auto. None None 1+1 I Small Gravity Semi. Auto. CO 2 None Natural cork J Small Gravity Manual None None Technical K Medium Automated Automatic N 2 Vacuum/N 2 Natural cork L Large Automated Automatic Vacuum None Screwcap M Small Gravity Manual None None Synthetic N Medium Automated Automatic None None Synthetic Researchers collected samples during bottling and from finished wines from 14 commercial wineries spread across three regions of Ohio. Small wineries were characterized as those producing less than 10,000 gal- lons, medium between 10,000 and 50,000 gallons, and large more than 50,000 gallons per year.