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WINERY & VINEYARD EQUIPMENT July 2018 WINES&VINES 39 flavourtech.com LOW ZERO and WinE aLcOhOL gRapE premium juicE cOncEntRatE thE c E nt R i thE R M E va p O R atO R cOnE cOLuMn thE s p i n n i n g for for "All water to the winery for winemaking is reverse osmosis," Lewis said. "The tasting room uses the same water source as the win- ery, so no hard water is used in either winemaking or washing." But she added that water qual- ity is something that needs to be tested regularly. If she starts to see white spots or other residue left on the glasses, she'll call Auto- Chlor's 24/7 tech service immedi- ately. "We test the chemical content of the water with a water hardness test kit," Sanchez said. "We need to make sure that if water is being treated, that treat- ment is working." According to Sanchez, the test also helps determine if the amount of the cleaning chemicals released during each cycle needs to be adjusted. One-man wash station On the other end of the spectrum is Jeff Fadness — owner and wine- maker of La Vie Dansante, and co-owner of "Blended, a Winemak- er's Studio," where three wineries pour their wines in a rustic, open- air tasting room in Gilroy, Calif. Despite the shared space, Fad- ness said, he and his fellow wine- makers use only about 200 glasses on their busiest days. "This is about the same amount of glasses we have ready on the tasting room rack," he said, so he only needs to run his glasswasher after business hours. The Blended co-op uses the Hobart L30H glasswasher, an older model Fadness bought used from Habitat for Humanity for $600. "Reusing and recycling is big at Blended," he said. The mod- est, single-rack washer washes only 25 glasses at a time, but does it in a quick, 85-second cycle. Fadness, who's been working in the wine industry for more than 10 years, said chemical washers that pump soaps and sanitizers are the most common washers found in tasting rooms. Yet he's opted for a machine that uses heat sanitiza- tion: The Hobart L30H finishes each cycle by rinsing at 190°F. Fadness said he prefers heat sanitization because he's experi- enced rinse aids and sanitizers that leave unpleasant lingering scents in wine glasses, affecting the aromas of his wines. And while he does use a low-foaming commercial dishwashing soap, he inserts the liquid himself before each load. "It's about 10 to 15 milliliters for each load," he said. "Rather than have the machine pull the soap from a bottle auto- matically, we just pour it on the door from a repurposed vinegar bottle. It's seems to work." Unlike the Testarossa tasting room, Blended uses untreated well water in the winery. (The reverse osmosis system in place is reserved for the drinking water and laboratory.) Although the well water is sent in for analysis every six months to ensure there are no harmful chemicals or resi- due present, there are no treat- ments for the hard water going into the washing system. "There is a coarse cartridge filter in the water line before the dishwasher to trap any big particles," said Fadness, who hasn't found any mineral deposits or other marks