Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/804714
WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 56 WINES&VINES April 2017 the winery. "I thought I'd be 2,000 to 4,000 cases and we'd be fine, but the whole canning thing just changed everything." Originally all the canning was done at the winery in Denver, but the program grew so quickly that Parsons had to send it out to a canning company in California. He still cans a perry (pear cider) made with juice trucked in from Oregon. The pear juice is fermented, dry hopped and canned at the Denver winery. He said he tried grinding and pressing the fruit himself but found it just has too much pectin and took forever to settle and clarify—even when using a bunch of enzymes. Now he treats the juice with a Winetech cross-flow filter that he also uses for white wines. "We still do the enzyme additions pre- fermentation, but post-fermentation we run it straight through here, and it's just brilliant," he said of the filter. "Then it gets hopped and then gets thrown in the brite tank, carbonated and into the canning line." The perry is canned with a Wild Goose Can- ning line that is linked to a Ska Fabricating depalletizer, which feeds empty cans into the filling line. While he's outsourced some of the canning, Parsons still does all of his own kegging. When he launched the keg operation, he successfully petitioned the Colorado state government to change existing laws so he could fill kegs for other companies. That company is called Iron Monkey and has its own dedicated fleet of kegs that Parsons uses for his wine and that of his kegging clients. Parsons bought an IDD keg filling, washing and sanitizing system that can be connected directly to tanks. The kegs are a key component to the winery's hospitality program, which is based around an inviting tap room and patio An inviting tap room with a large outdoor area has proved to be a popular draw for consumers in Denver.