Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/766392
66 WINES&VINES January 2017 VIEWPOINT hydrophobicity and ion selectivity. Knowledge of porosity and other membrane characteristics is es- sential to the winemaker. Better yet, buy the machine you want, then independently purchase the membranes that suit your needs. It's easy to install them yourself, and you should learn how in any case. In any complex new technol- ogy, it is natural for suppliers to adapt a "Father Knows Best" role, and we are happy for their ad- vice. But you can't farm this par- t i c u l a r d e c i s i o n o u t . I n m y opinion, membrane selection is properly placed with the propri- etor of the bonded premise, in whose hands lies the responsibil- ity for compliance, care, custody and control—not to mention the economic impact of the resulting wine quality. Given the current turmoil of federal definitions (see below), it is not enough for the supplier to provide assurances of legal com- pliance. Until the federal govern- ment clarifies what is compliant, buyer beware. Nor is a list of happy customers much help when researching un- less their applications are the same as yours. For instance, a large winery with blending op- tions may be content with a level of quality that is unacceptable to a niche estate. An easy way to tell whether your membranes have acceptable porosity is to look at pH and TA changes during processing. Tight RO membranes don't alter pH, and TA is only lowered by the dif- f e r e n t i a l i n v o l a t i l e a c i d i t y achieved. Loose membranes can cut TA in half and raise pH by as much as an entire pH point (from 3.6 to 4.6, for example). Some suppliers supply cation resins charged with mineral acids to correct acidity, but in my experience they only mask the problem and can't mitigate fla- vor stripping. Legal foundations As governmental agencies go, the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and its succes- sor, the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), deserve enormous credit for their forward thinking and industry-friendly pursuit of the technical complexities of wine- making technology. The open- n e s s t o e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n o f American regulators is the envy of the wine world. In 1980, BATF even went so far as to send one of its most brilliant and person- able agents, Richard Gahagan, to study enology at California State University, Fresno. Since he retired in 2002, his successor, Mari Kirrane, has carried on as a ready source of information and education. Winery compli- ance seminars were conducted for two decades by the aptly named Perky Ramroth. This is how a federal agency is sup- posed to work. Federal regulations of cross- flow technologies, however, were put in place long before fine wine applications existed, and they are not designed to keep you out of wine quality trouble. In 1984, Barry Gnekow began experimenting at J. Lohr Vine- yards & Wines, first with ultra- filtration for removal of protein instability, and then with the production of non-alcoholic wine via reverse osmosis and addback of water from the tap, a process he patented. Gnekow and Lohr's attorney organized a historic meeting in Washington, D.C., in 1985 that established the taxable background for both technologies. Present were many i n d u s t r y n o t a b l e s i n c l u d i n g BATF director Stephen Higgins, Wine Institute attorney Jim Seff and compliance specialist Ray- mond Williams. "The focus was on clarifying taxable status," Gnekow says. "The filtrate of ultrafiltration had already been established as taxable as wine, then enjoying a special tax status of 17 cents per gallon, and everybody was ex- cited at the idea of classifying RO permeate as a distillate so they could tax it at $13.50 per proof gallon." The outcome, finally pub- lished in the Federal Register in 1990, established definitions di- v i d i n g t h e m i c r o - m e m b r a n e world in two: the UF zone above 500 molecular weight and the RO zone below 500 MW. Thus, the 500 dalton line was laid down for tax reasons rather than scientific reasons. This was a decade be- fore anybody envisioned RO as a standard wine practice. The nanofiltration zone, scien- tifically considered as 150 to 1,000 MW, was completely ig- nored. In 2004, TTB, at the re- quest of VA Filtration, corrected this oversight, but in a strange way, by defining nanofiltration as below 150 MW. Other types of membranes also were vetted. Ion-selective membranes (electrodialysis) and hydrophobic membranes that pass only ethanol (osmotic trans- port) were added to the approved list in 2004. In effect, nanofiltration is permitted as long as it isn't re- ally nanofiltration from a scien- tific standpoint. Since VinoPro claims in its literature to be an NF membrane with a porosity of 150-300 daltons, it would seem to be illegal for wine (but OK for juice?). But the federal defini- REVERSE OSMOSIS SUPPLIERS Company Phone Website Bucher Vaslin North America (707) 823-2883 bvnorthamerica.com Centurion Process, LLC (509) 759-3001 CenturionProcess.com DellaToffola (707) 544-5300 dellatoffola.us Evoqua Water Technologies (800) 466-7873 evoqua.com Filter Equipment Co. (732) 938-7440 filter-equipment.com Filtration Equipment Co (800) 445-9775 filter-equipment.com GE Water Technologies (952) 988-6343 gewater.com GEA Group (410) 997-8700 gea.com GEA Process Engineering Inc. (715) 386-9371 niroinc.com Gusmer Enterprises (559) 485-2692 gusmerwine.com Jain Irrigation (909) 395-5200 x228 jainusa.com Juclas USA (707) 259-1877 vason.com Koch Membrane Systems (888) 677-5624 kochmembrane.com Mavrik North America (707) 320-0672 mavrikna.com Northcoast Waterworks Inc. (707) 578-3411 northcoastwaterworks.com Nuance Winery Supplies (336) 475-13707 nuancetrade.com Oenodia North America (707) 486-4651 oenodia.us Parker domnick hunter Process Filtration - North America (805) 604-3400 parker.com/dhwine Sartorius Stedim North America Inc. (877) 452-2345 sartorius-stedim.com Scott Laboratories Inc. (707) 765-6666 scottlab.com SMB Machinery (770) 704-2000 smbsales.com Tangent Membranes Inc. (707) 217-3765 tangentmembranes.com Tyco Flow Control (916) 983-6250 tycovalves.com VA Filtration USA (707) 552-2616 vafiltration.com Winesecrets (888) 656-5553 winesecrets.com Winetech LLC (707) 257-2080 winetech.us For more information about the suppliers listed above, visit winesandvines.com/buyersguide or see Wines & Vines' 2017 Buyer's Guide. Federal regulations of cross-flow technologies were put in place long before fine wine applications existed, and they are not designed to keep you out of wine quality trouble.