Chapter 15 - Finishing and Packaging P2 Flashcards
2 most important considerations when bottling:
Hygiene
Oxygen management
What is total package oxygen? Why is it important to measure?
- Amt of dissolved oxygen in the wine
- The oxygen in the head space
- The amount of oxygen in the cork (or other closure)
- The Oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of the cork
Imp bc too much oxygen = oxidized characters & browning
Too little oxygen = reductive qualities
Pros of glass bottles:
- Inert and no taint
- Can be delivered to wineries in near sterile conditions (shrink wrapped when hot)
- Inexpensive to manufacture and comes in a range of colors
- 100% recyclable (in theory)
- Best option for aging wine bc it’s impermeable to O2
Cons of glass bottles:
- High carbon footprint to manufacture
- Heavy
- Fairly fragile
- Rigid. Rapid oxidation once wine is partly drunk
- Clear bottles can be spoiled by light strike
Plastic containers
Pros: 1/8th the weight of glass Tough Inexpensive Recyclable (in theory) Comes in many sizes
Cons:
Only good for wines with limited shelf life
Special equipment needed to inflate and fill the bags
Bag-In-Box
Cardboard box w/ flexible bag inside
Usually bag has lining protection against O2 like aluminum
Pros: Flexible pour size Good protection from O2 after opened - bag collapses inside the box 1.5-20L sizes Easy to store Low environmental impact
Cons: Slightly permeable to air (plastic is not impermeable to air nor is aluminum) Must have a slightly higher SO2 than glass to counter oxidation Needs a low dissolved O2 level No head space Low CO2 (prevent bag from bulging) High quality tap required to prevent O2 Only 6-9mth shelf life on average
‘Brick’
AKA Tetra Pak
Paper card w/ plastic layers and an aluminum foil layer - keeps out light and O2
Pros:
Can be filled entirely of wine (no headspace)
Accepted by consumers at low price points
Cons:
Filing equipment is a big investment (so much so that some producers outsource the filling of bricks)
Pouch
Similar to bag-in-box but available in larger and smaller sizes
Purposes of a wine closure:
- Protect the wine from O2
- Be inert so it does not interact with the wine
- Be easy to remove/reinsert
- be cheap, recyclable, no faults
Can
Pros: Lightweight Robust Easy to Open Impermeable to O2 Recyclable
Cons:
Filing equipment is expensive (often outsourced)
Usually only used for cheap to mid priced wines
Pros/Cons of Natural Cork
Pros:
Light
Flexible
Inert
Natural Resource
Positive image in the eye of the consumer
Comes in all diffrent lengths and qualities
Cons:
- Cork taint via TCA (moldy, wet cardboard)
- Variable rates of oxygen ingress. Wines bottled at the same time can have different aging rates
How do you limit cork taint?
- Cleaning corks w/ steam
- More rigorous QC during cork making and TCA checking
- Inexpensive polymer barrier bt cork and wine that prevents any aroma from reaching the wine
Technical Corks
Corks made out of natural cork but have been manufactured to limit cork taint and lower cost
Examples:
1/ agglomerated cork - cork granules glued together. Cheapest. Only suitable for inexpensive RTD wine
2. One plus one cork - largest, central section is inexpensive aggomerate. Finished with dic of natural cork at both ends
3. Diam corks - corks that have been cleaned and reconstituted with plastic. These have differnet O2 ingress rates winemakers can choose from
Synthetic Closures and major con
AKA Plastic corks
Con:
- Rigid (solution: extruded closures that have more elasticity)
- Moulded closures have limited protection from O2 ingress - only suitable for RTD wines
- Flavor Scalping - plastic absorbs flavor molecules, leading to a loss of flavor intensity
Closure options
- Natural cork
- Technical cork
- Synthetic cork
- Screwcap
- Glass stopper
What do winemakers check for in the wine before packaging? (AKA pre-filling analysis)
- Make sure wine is stable
- Make sure it meets all the technical specifications (ie. Sugar level, alcohol level, pH, stability analysis, VA level, free and total SO2 level, etc. pg169)
- Conforms to legal standards (ie SO2, trace metals)
Modern Bottling Technique
AKA Aseptic bottling - free from microorganisms
Eliminates potential yeast and spoilage bacteria by:
1. Sterile filtration (most popular) - removes all microorganisms.
Cold bottling (no heat added)
Bottling carried out at ambient temp
2. Heat treatments
ie flash pasteurization - wine is heated to high temps 80-90C for a few seconds and then rapidly cooled and bottled
Not really used today bc heat can deteriorate quality and premature aging of the wine
Filing Bag-in-box technique
Sterile filtered to avoid refermentation
Bags are put under vacuum before filtering
Wine must have a slightly higher SO2 than if bottled
Low dissolved O2
No head space
Low CO2
Cans
Pro: Easy to store/transport Can be filled all the way up to the top - no headspace Light weight Easy to open Impermeable to O2 Recyclable Good for RTD market
Con”
Filling is generally outsourced bc it is a big investment
Screwcap
Aluminum with tin seal - impermeable to O2 or saran seal (low O2 permeability)
Con:
Wines can become reductive after bottling - winemakers need to lower SO2 levels in final wine
Pro:
No TCA risk
Easy to open
Glass Stoppers
Glass with plastic ring seal
Wine can be stored for similar lengths as w/ natural corks
Just as expensive as top quality cork
Only suitable for premium and super-premium wines
Wine technical Specifications that are checked prior to bottling
The main measurable chemical parameters:
Free and total SO2 VA Alcohol RS Total acidity PH Malic/lactic acid Total dry extract Tartrates and proteins (stability analysis) Turbidity (how clear the wine is) Minor acids Trace metals Dissolved O2 CO2 Microbial populations Tains (ie TCA)
Traditional Bottling
Wine is fermented to dryness (acid, alcohol, lack of nutrients make it hard for microbials to grow)
Wiens mature for 6-12 mths in cool cellar - then wines become naturally clear
Siphon the wine and bottle
Typical plastic filling technique
Wine is sterile filtered
Wine has slightly higher SO2,
low dissolved O2,
no headsapce,
low CO2
Bags are put under vacuum and then filled
Brick filling technique
Sterilize packaing material with UV radiation
Fill in a sterile enclosure
Ideal bottle aging temp
10-15C
3 procedures for hygiene:
- Cleaning - removal of surface dirt
- Sanitation - reduction of unwanted organisms to low levels (water and detergent)
- Sterilization - elimination of unwanted organisms (high strength alcohol, steam)
How can wineries be designed to facilitate good hygiene?
- Use easy to clean stainless steel
- Non-porous floor surfaces that slope down to aid drainage
- Put equipment in easy to clean places
- Paying close attnd to hard to reach areas like underneath equipment and dead-ends of pipes and pores in oak
Quality Control defn
The set of practices by which the company ensures a consistently good quality product
Quality Assurance Defn
Quality control + planning + management systems + monitoring/recording key standards from vineyard to bottling = a documented comprehensive system to show that all reasonable precautiosn ahve been taken to provide customers with a safe product
HACCP
Hazard Analysis at Critical
Control Points
Internal approach to quality assurance
Company identifies all possible hazards and documents 1. Hwo serious it is, 2. How it can be prevented, and 3. How it can be corrected
Certification to ISO standard
3rd parties used to audit the wine company to give assurance to distributors, consumers, etc that the winery meets quality standards
Things revieed: Winery's quality mgmt system Mgmt structure Physical and human resources How it measures, analyses, and improves it performance
Why is traceability important?
- Respond to and investigate complaints about the wien
2. Improve practice so same mistake doesn’t happen again
How does traceability work?
A lot number is given to each consignment of wine (and printed on label)
The lot number allows the Company to trace back to where the grapes came from, what additives were used, what processes the wine went thru - every activity from vineyard to transportation is recorded
Often times, samples of every batch will be kept so winery can go back and investigate to see hwat went wrong
Common problems: cork taint, tartrate cyrstals, faulty/missing labels
Circle of Quality Assurance parties:
Wine company -> ISO standard -> Certification body -> wine company
ISO sets the standards
Wine company does its own audit against ISO standard and commissions certification body to do an external audit
Certification body conducts external audit against ISO standard
Types of containers for bulk wine shipping:
- Flexitank - single use, recyclable polyethylene bag that fits into a standard container
Has barrier that prevents taint and reduces O2 ingress - IAO tank - SS vessel built to ISO standard that can be reused and has additional insulation
Option: temp control aka reefers)
Advantage of shippign wine is bottle:
Producer has full control of hte product from the wine, the bottling, the labelling, the external packaging
Disadvantages of shippign wine in bottle:
- Much more bulky and heavy - less wine can fit in one container so it becomes more expensvie to transport and more pollution
- Potential wine damage due to high and fluctuating temps
- Potential spoilate of labels nad packaging in transport
- Shorter shel life for inexpensive wine bc its alrdy bottled
Advantages of shipping in bulk
- More environmentally friendly adn cheaper - can hold much more wine and reduces carbon footprint
- Greater thermal inertia of a whole container than indiv bottles - means less temp fluctuation and less risk of oxidation and loss of fruit
- Strict QC before filling the container and upon emptying the container (SO2, RS, alcohol, etc)
- Wien can be adjusted closer to contact wiht final consumer (SO2, O2, etc)
- Shelf life is extended esp for packaging that has short shelf life like bag in box
Disadvantage to shipping in bulk
- Loss of direct relationship with the producer
- Transfer of business and employment from producer country to final market country
- Only financially viable for large brands that sell 3 or more containers a yr
