Wine Filtration Method and Apparatus

Certain liquids, such as wine, are sensitive to contact with oxygen and may be degraded by oxidation, so winemakers usually take steps to limit or entirely prevent oxygen from contacting the wine. For example, inert gases may be used to displace oxygen. In reductive winemaking processes, oxygen is prevented from coming into contact with the wine. In standard (oxidative) winemaking processes, a certain degree of oxygen ingress is tolerated, and in a process called micro-oxygenation, a controlled amount of O2 can even be introduced into the wine. However, even during the process of oxidative wine making, the amount of oxygen exposure must be controlled since prolonged contact with oxygen could lead to oxidized wine.

During and after the winemaking process, the wine may need to be analysed and should preferably be filtered before doing so. Frequently, analyses of this type are conducted reductively since oxygen contact could interfere with obtaining accurate results. This is also true for liquids other than wine where contact with oxygen could interfere with test results. Accordingly, there is a need for methods that enable the filtration of wine and other liquids while controlling the amount of oxygen that the liquid is exposed to.

The system comprises a holding receptacle containing to be filtered, a receiving receptacle, and a filtration apparatus for the filtration of the wine during the transfer of the wine from the holding receptacle to the receiving receptacle. A flow of inert gas may be applied into the holding receptacle to push the wine under inert gas pressure from the holding receptacle through the filtration apparatus. The filtered wine may be received in the receiving receptor for analysis.

Benefits

• The device uses inert gas to push the wine directly out of a bottle or sample bottle.
• The unit itself can be filled with inert gas beforehand to minimize oxidation. The other units are more dispenser units to displace liquid.

Applications

The potential market includes industries in the technology that can be used and integrated into the process, including:

• Wine laboratories
• Laboratory companies that sell: Lasec, Science World, United Scientific, MCL, etc.
• University research laboratories
• Fruit juice industry, etc.