Alcohol Adjustment of Wines
The Spinning Cone Column is used extensively to reduce the ethanol content of wines and produce low alcohol wine. This allows the winemaker to harvest the grapes at full ripeness, with all the benefits of enhanced flavour intensity, but without the often inevitable high alcohol levels and associated "hotness" in the finished wine.
Reduction of the alcohol content of a wine is accomplished by the SCC using a two-pass process. A portion of the wine to be treated is separated from the bulk wine and processed through the SCC twice. The first step captures all the delicate volatile aroma compounds of the wine which are then stored separately. The aroma-stripped wine is reprocessed through the SCC to remove most of the alcohol. The de-alcoholised wine and the flavour are then blended with the bulk of the wine to give a finished product at the desired ethanol content. Other methods of alcohol reduction such as evaporation or filtration cause the loss of many vital flavour compounds and require a far greater volume of wine to be processed.
There are more than 200 users of Spinning Cone Column technology for alcohol reduction of wines in California. These wineries have found that even a slight reduction of alcohol can lead to improved flavour complexity. Click here to find out why.
Ethanol removal using the SCC can also be an effective method of restarting "stuck" fermentations.
Concentration of Grape Juice
Grape juice with low sugar levels can often pose a problem for winemakers resulting in the need to add grape juice concentrate or sugar. One technique for concentration of grape juice without loss of flavour is for the juice to first be processed in the Spinning Cone Column to remove the delicate, varietal flavours. These flavours would be stored separately, under optimum conditions, whilst the juice is concentrated in the Centritherm to the desired level. The flavour is then added back to the juice prior to fermentation.
Sulfite Removal from Grape Juice
Grape juice is often stored under high SO2 at ambient temperature until required for winemaking. This avoids the need for expensive refrigeration. Spinning Cone Column can desulfite the juice down to the desired level prior to fermentation. The short residence time within the SCC allows the desulfiting to occur without damage to the varietal juice flavour.
Flavour Recovery from Waste
The unique ability of the Spinning Cone Column to handle slurries with high solids content enables the recovery of valuable flavour from sources such as lees and pomace. The flavour recovered can be used in non-standard wines, other beverages or for sale as natural wine/grape flavour.
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