Packaging And Maturation Flashcards
Considerations of packaging
1) its place in the market (early consumption va ageing)
2) the markets in which it will be sold
Oxygen management when packaging
The amount of oxygen in the final container will determine the shelf life and expected development of the wine.
Considerations:
1) dissolved oxygen in the wine
2) oxygen in headspace
3) oxygen in the cork or closure
4) oxygen transmission rate of the cork or closure
Options for packaging
1) plastic (common in France for local drinking)
2) bag-in-box (60% of the Swedish market)
3) glass
4) brick
5) pouch
6) can
Glass
(pros & cons)
Pros:
1) inert and does not convey taints
2) arrive at wineries in a near sterile state as they are shrink wrapped when still hot
3) inexpensive to manufacture
4) comes in a range of colors and sizes
5) 100% recyclable
6) impermeable to oxygen
Cons:
1) high carbon footprint due to heat needed to manufacture and heavy to transport
2) fragile
3) rigid so once its been opened its subject to oxidation
4) clear bottles at risk for light-strike
Plastic
- PET or polyethylene terephthalate is a lightweight form of plastic that is tough, inexpensive, and (in principle) recyclable
- must be lined with a barrier to reduce the ingress of oxygen
- well suited to early consumption and informal settings (like planes)
- special equipment is required as PET bottles are inflated at filling
Bag-in-box
- a cardboard box that houses a flexible bag inside
- usually aluminum foil surrounded by plastic or just plastic to give protection from oxygen and cracking
- flexible pour size as it collapses, providing protection from oxygen
- comes in a range from sizes 1.5-2L
- easy to store and low environmental impact
- high quality tap is needed
- shelf life is 6-9 months
- very successful in Australia and Sweden
Brick
- aka ‘tetra pack’
- made of paper card with plastic layers and an aluminum foil layer that excludes oxygen and light
- can be entirely filled with wine, excluding oxygen
- accepted at low price points in places where price is a major driver like Germany
- filling equipment is a big investment, can be outsourced
Pouch
- similar to the bags in bag-and-box
- available in single served to larger sizes
Can
- the pull-ring can is great for early consumption
- light weight, robust, easy to open, impermeable to oxygen, and recyclable
- must be lined with plastic to avoid being attacked by the acidity of the wine
- generally outsourced because the machine is expensive
- generally inexpensive to mid-priced wine
The ideal closure would combine the following:
1) protect wine from rapid oxidation
2) inert, doesn’t effect the wine adversely
3) easy to remove and re-insert
4) be cheap, recyclable, and free from faults
What is the most popular closure?
Cork at around 60%
Closure options
1) natural cork
2) technical corks
3) synthetic closures
4) screw cap
5) glass stoppers
Natural cork
- light, flexible, inert (when cleaned) and comes from a renewable, natural resource
- very positive consumer image
- comes in a range of length and quality
- has 2 issues:
1) can taint wine via TCA (2,4,6-trichloranisole) giving moldy cardboard aromas (3-5%)
2) has variable rates of oxygen ingress cork to cork - solutions:
1) clean corks with steam extraction
2) creating closures from recomposed, cleaned corks particles
3) those reconstituted with plastic
4) more rigorous quality control during cork production, including high-cost high-tech solutions to check for TCA (chromatography)
5) an impermeable membrane between the wine and the cork
Technical corks
- made from manufactured cork designed to address the cost of avoiding cork taint
- cheapest are agglomerated cork bits glued together, only suited for inexpensive early-consumption
- one-plus-one cork is agglomerated cork with natural cork on either end
- diam corks (recomposed cleaned cork bits reconstituted with plastic)
- designed to have variable oxygen ingress rates
Synthetic closures
- made of food-grade plastic with a silicone coating
- cheapest are moulded closures, difficult to re-insert, only for consumption within a few months
- extruded closures are plastic covering foam and easier to re-insert, these can be designed with different oxygen ingress rates
- plastic does absorb some flavor molecules but the extent to which is un-known
Screwcap
- an aluminum closure rolled onto the outside of a bottle neck, the seal being a wad of tin (impermeable) or Saran (low permeability)
- requires specific equipment
- those using tin could become reductive so may want to use less SO2
- easier to open and no risk of TCA
- can be used on quality wine (accepted in Australia, NZ, UK) but some markets aren’t there yet (US, China)
Glass stoppers
- often referred to by the vinlock brand name
- made from glass and sealed with a plastic ring
- can be stored for as long as cork
- special bottles must be used to ensure a perfect fit
- premium to super-premium only bc $$$
What do you do directly before packaging?
Pre-filling analysis:
1) check stability
2) check legal limits on SO2, trace metals, etc
3) dissolved oxygen and CO2
4) make sure it meets any technical specifications set by winemaker or client / measured by lab equipment bought or sent to an external lab
- free and total SO2
- volatile acidity
- alcohol content
- residual sugar
- total acidity
- pH
- malic and lactic acid
- total dry extract
- tartrate and protein stability
- turbidity/ clarity
- minor acids: sordid, ascorbic, metatartaric, citric
- trace metals: copper, iron, potassium, calcium sodium
- dissolved oxygen
- CO2
- microbial populations, strains of yeast/ bacteria
- taints
Traditional bottling
Wine is siphoned directly into a sterile bottle and sealed with cork
Modern bottling techniques
The bottles are rinsed with water and steam cleaned, flash-pasteurized (heated to 82C/180F for 20 minutes), or sterile filtered which physically removes microorganisms at room temp. Sterile filtration has become more popular as no heat damage comes to wine. All require highly-trained staff.
Filling other containers
Bag-in-box, pouches, bricks, and cans all require specialized equipment. All sterile filtered and sterile packed, bag-in-box and pouches will be vacuumed to minimize oxygen and possibly SO2 added. Bricks are packaged under UV radiation. Cans generally done by external partner.
Post-bottling maturation
- meant for wines that can positively develop for years such as vintage port, premium German rieslings, and cru classé Bordeaux
- some wine laws require it
- increases costs and takes up room, plus you have to pay insurance on its in there ownership
- glass bottles only with an OTR closure
- wine with higher dissolved oxygen is more likely to oxidize quickly, a small amount is good but rapid/excessive oxidation is a negative
- if the wine was exposed to too little oxygen before bottling it can lead to the formation of volatile, reductive sulfur compounds
- dark place with constant temp 10-15C / 50-59F with constant humidity , bottles on the side
Hygiene in the winery
- high standards of hygiene give the winemaker the maximum chance of producing sound wine and avoiding contamination from organisms that could spoil the wine
- new wineries have hard non-porous floors with surfaces that slops to aid drainage and equipment located where its easy to clean
- 3 prodecures for hygiene:
1) cleaning / removing surface dirt
2) sanitation / a reduction of unwanted organisms via sanitizing agent or steam
3) sterilization / elimination of unwanted organisms with high strength alcohol or steam (ex: in nozzle heads)
Quality control vs quality assurance
Quality control: the set of practices by which the company ensures a consistently good quality product
Quality assurance: the complete way a business organizes itself to deliver a good product consistently and protects itself from legal challenges (includes planning, management systems and the monitoring and recording of key standards from vineyards to bottling, resulting in the documentation to prove it)
- HACCP
- ISO certification
- traceability
