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August 2017 WINES&VINES 23 PRODUCT NEWS vertically grown crops. Agroblow mounts to the front end of a tractor and is intended as the first part of a sequential treatment: Agroblow precedes the Agrotherm XT ma- chine blowing off water before the Agrotherm XT heats and dries the crop. Agrothermal Systems reports the two machines used in conjunc- tion help increase fruit set and pro- tect against both mildew and rot development during periods of rain. agrothermalsystems.com. App to connect wineries to consumers Vinformant launched a new website and mobile app to help wineries connect with new customers. The company picks two to three winer- ies per week to feature to a nation- al, private list of customers. Sales and promotions expire after 48 hours. The new website now allows customers to shop through more than 100 SKUs from the company's partner wineries in addition to the weekly featured wines. The free app is available for both iPhone and Android users. vinformant.com Emboss and hot-stamp option Maverick Enterprises is now offer- ing an emboss and hot-stamp fea- ture to decorate capsules. According to Maver- ick, the new fea- ture allows lines to be thicker and artwork to have more bulk and substance while maintaining a bright and bold raised feature on the top of wine capsules. maverickcaps.com One-way kegs Pioneer Packaging is now offer- ing three types of one-way PET kegs by Belgian supplier Dolium. The kegs come in two capacities (20 liters and 30 liters), and the 20-liter keg also is available in a "slim-line" shape. The kegs are fully recyclable, feature an inte- grated pressure-release valve, have oxygen and carbon dioxide barriers and fit American Stan- dard Sankey "D" type taps. pioneernorthwest.com Shrink wrap for bottles Vinpak Inc. now has a custom- ized steam shrink tunnel and steam generator from MPI Label Systems for the application of shrink sleeves on bottles and containers. The tunnel can apply shrink sleeves to bottles with varying circumference size and both pre-filled and post-filled containers as well as two-packs of bottles. MPI Label Systems can produce shrink sleeves using either a digital or flexographic printing process with options in- cluding foil decoration, metallic ink and custom varnishes for ad- ditional contrast decoration. Vin- pak provides the application process and can use sleeves from a variety of suppliers. mpilabels.com, vinpak.com Organic-compliant yeast nutrient BSG's new Own is an organic- compliant yeast nutrient contain- ing no synthetic vitamins, ammonia or ammonium salts. Ac- cording to the supplier, Own is an option for winemakers looking for a nutrient that is organic and sus- tainable. The supplier reports Own is an organic-compliant yeast autolysate that is naturally rich in amino acids, naturally oc- curring essential B-family vita- mins and minerals that support the clean, complete fermentation of organic fruit or fermentable substrates. bsgwine.com Wine-preservation device Sello developed a new system to preserve the quality of wine in an opened bottle. The device, which is placed over the opening of a bottle, uses cartridges containing natural sub- stances to slow the ef- fects of light and oxidation on wine. The supplier claims an opened bottle can be preserved at optimum quality for seven days with the device. selloproducts.com