Where do you stand on wine technology and innovation?

This piece originally appeared in the September 2017 issue of Wine Business Monthly

Cyril Derreumaux

Winemakers constantly debate the balance between art and technology. This is more than just the difference between Old World and New World wine production - it’s a fundamental question that every winery needs to address.

I remember visiting local wine fairs in France with my dad, tasting and buying wine by the case. He explained to me the concepts of “terroir” and “millesime”; how each plot of land could produce a distinct wine because of the ground composition, and how each year’s climate made a wine taste different. We would store those cases in our underground cellar and drink them as time passed, which might be weeks, months, or even years. I accepted it as fact that the same wine could taste better some years than others.

To my surprise when moving to the USA, I discovered an entirely different reality. In the ‘New World’, in wine like many consumer products, ‘brand’ is at the forefront, and consumers expect a consistent tasting experience year after year, and in any location. Someone drinking a Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay from 2010 would demand the same taste in 2016, regardless of the weather or the origins of the grapes. The majority of the consumer’s perspective in the USA is very straightforward: “I buy it, I taste it, I like it, I buy it again, I like it, I buy it again....” Most consumers drink these wines within hours or days of purchase, so they count on a predictable flavor.

And winemakers rely on various techniques to control the variables and meet this consumer demand for consistency of quality. It is undeniable that technology has an important part to play in today’s business of winemaking. Throughout the winemaking process, many decisions are made, which each require some risk or innovation.   

In the vineyard, do we harvest our own grapes to control quality or source them from different regions in order to work with different profiles?

During fermentation what strains of yeasts, bacteria and enzymes do we use, or how much adjustment to pH and alcohol is advisable? How about decisions regarding saignee, skin contact, pump-overs, micro-oxygenation?

During blending, should different varietals be mixed from within the winery estate or from wines purchased on the bulk market?

During aging, use oak barrels with various toast profiles and origines, or replicate the maturation process with oak alternatives and using micro-oxygenation. How about de-alcoholization?

The appetite for technology adoption in any given winery reflects, at the macro level, that country’s culture and its (old vs new world) approach by producers and consumers.  On the micro level, the willingness to innovate reflects the brand and culture of each individual winery. Some wineries trade on being cutting edge and challenging the status quo, while others position themselves as artisanal brands and offer a consumer experience to match this.

There is no right or wrong answer - each winery has to understand its own brand positioning and product strategy. My many years on the road working with wineries of all sizes showed me that these choices reflect the winery’s organizational structure, employee profile and team culture (personality, values and internal hierarchy), investment in winemaking tools, website content, the color of the label, the weight of the bottle, the use of a specific closure, etc.

In the end, the challenge for winemakers, and wineries as a whole, is to remain true to their vision without missing opportunities to innovate. I believe no winery can afford to remain fully artisanal; if the taste profile can vary from year to year, the overall quality of the wine has to remain constant in order to maintain success in a market where the spots on the shelves are highly prized. Some wineries remain partially artisanal in the winemaking process and message but offer a sophisticated customer experience supported by technology, like an online wine club and social media communications.

Whether organizations decide to embrace or resist change, the fact is that the democratization of technology is happening in front of us. When my kids’ PlayStation has more computing power than the early moon launches, we are only a couple of years away from talking to our fridge and having it tell us what to cook - or having our winemaking tank talking to us ...

The point is that democratized technology is cheaper and more accessible for a business of any size. Winery owners, winemakers and wine marketers must now decide their positioning on technology and innovation.

Where do you stand...:  

• on oxygen inhibition vs. hyper-oxygenation of white musts vs. managed oxygenation: White wines are usually made from the rapid crushing and pressing of the grapes in order to extract juice with a low level of phenolic compounds. Oxidative reactions are generally faster in must than in wine and could lead to alteration of aroma precursors so some winemakers will prefer a total and radical protection of the must from oxygen. Oxygen contact can create chain reactions that would produce unwanted colors and precipitation later in the wine. Extended skin contact as well as grinding and shredding of the solid parts of grape bunches during processing allows a greater extraction of phenolic compounds into the juice. The higher concentration of phenolic compounds can lead to significant instability, and lower the quality. Thus, hyperoxygenation at the must stage is a different approach that aims at removing the phenolic compounds before fermentation in order to produce a more stable wine. Managed oxygenation is another option, which aims at adding the right amount of oxygen in order to oxidize these polyphenol but preserving the aroma precursors that will be revealed later in actual aromas in the wine.

 

• on traditional cold settling vs. centrifuge vs. flotation: There are several ways for settling grapes juice prior to fermentation. The first clarification is usually carried out by sedimentation where the wine is cooled down and left for the solids to settle out, after which the wine is racked off the solid lees by pumping or gravity. In a centrifuge, the sedimentation due to gravity is replaced by the centrifugal force generated by the spin of the centrifuge. Centrifuges can work at very high speeds (often up to 10,000 rpm) and have very high flow-rate. Flotation is also a rapid process of juice clarification: Carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas and fining agents such as gelatine, bentonite and silica sol are injected into the must under pressure, and then the pressure is released. The gas comes out of solution and adheres to the solid particles, thus making them rise to the top of the vessel. These solid particles can then be removed physically or decanted from the juice and passed through a press filter.

 

• on classic maceration on skins vs. thermo-vinification vs. flash detente: Classic maceration is achieved at low temperatures of 75-90°F requiring extended contact between the juice and grape skins. The fermentation process, while producing alcohol (and CO2 as a byproduct), also extracts the polyphenols from the skin. Further color and flavors are extracted from the skins by mixing the skins back into the juice by one of many processes (punch down, pump over, rack and return, etc). Thermo-vinification uses heat to extract color and flavors from the skins. The crushed grapes are heated to 140-167°F for 20 to 30 minutes. The must is then cooled down to fermentation temperature but this process gives intensely colored must because the heat weakens the cell walls of the grape skins enabling the anthocyanins to be easily extracted. Flash Détente is essentially an evolution of the thermo-vinification method, by involving a combination of heating the grapes to about 180°F and then sending them into a huge vacuum chamber where the grape skins burst and are cooled.

 

• on fermentation in stainless tanks vs. wooden tanks vs. egg-shaped cement tanks vs. clay amphorae: Fermentation tanks may be made of wood, concrete, glass fibre, clay or stainless steel. Stainless steel is generally preferred as it is easier to clean and its conductivity makes temperature control easier, but winemakers have available a multitude of options. They will chose one or another vessel depending on tradition, grape variety, wine style,... and personal philosophy.

 

• on stainless steel tank aging with micro-ox & oak alternatives vs. oak barrels: “Élevage” is the french word which is defined as the progression of wine between fermentation and bottling. Comparable to the term "raising" in English, think of élevage as a wine's adolescence or education”. Barrel aging is essentially an “automatic” aging device as it balances naturally all the five parameters in the aging process: 1. Oxygen, 2. Oak compounds, 3. Turbidity (contact with the lees), 4. Temperature and 5. Time. The commercial reality is that not all wine can be matured the traditional way in oak barrels; about 90% of wine is matured in steel tanks. Oak alternatives aim at reproducing the oak profile, while micro-oxygenation was developed to reproduce the “oxygen intake”. The micro-ox technology is built on the premise that a tank can “behave” just like a barrel if we are authentic about how we recreate the important processes that happen in oak maturation.

 

• on traditional cold stabilization vs. electrodialysis vs. CMC: Consumer resistance to the occurrence of potassium bitartrate (tartrate) crystals in wine has compelled wineries to stabilise wine against the possible settling of such crystals. Cold stabilization is called as such because it is the act of cooling the wine that causes tartaric acid and potassium to form tartrate crystals (Cream of Tartar). The chilling of wine to a temperature approximating the freezing point of wine is an effective means of cold stabilising wines before bottling, provided the low temperature is maintained for a sufficiently long period of time. Developed by European researchers, Electrodialysis is an energy-efficient and faster alternative to cold stabilization. The precipitation of the crystals is prevented by concentrating the precursors of the settling reaction to such a level that the settling will no longer take place. This is achieved by pumping the wine between two membranes with a weak electrical charge on either side. The wine passes through an electrical field until desired conductivity levels are reached. CMC (Carboxymethyl Cellulose) is another solution to cold stabilize white and rose wines: CMC is added to wine immediately after polish filtration, and the wine is stable and ready for bottling in 48 hours, providing a rapid, inexpensive, and organoleptically neutral alternative for cold stability.

 

• on latest filtration technologies vs. no filtration: Filtering or not filtering a wine remains a stylistic choice of the winemaker. Essentially, filtering will impact the visual appeal but will also helps ensure the wine remains stable after bottling. Some winemakers believe too much filtering can strip a wine’s flavors and aromas, and unfiltered wines can have a more appealing texture and mouthfeel. Since filtering simply means passing the wine through a media in order to remove the suspended particles, the size of the particles to be removed will determine which of the filtration systems the winemaker will use (membrane filtration, depth filtration, crossflow, etc).

​

• on selling... through distributors vs. DTC online vs. tasting room vs. wine club vs. building an app.: Individual state laws require wineries to sell their wine in the US through distributors. It’s the famous “three-tier system” composed of producers, distributors and retailers.  The basic structure of the system is that producers can sell their products only to wholesale distributors who then sell to retailers (through a network of sales reps out into the market), and only retailers (and restaurants) may sell to consumers. If your goal is to become a national brand, you will certainly have to go through these traditional selling channels. This being said, tasting room and wine club sales remain the most reliable and profitable channels for many wineries. Virtually every winery has a tasting room (or two) and a wine club now. How about building your own videos on the various social media platforms or creating your own app?

To make an informed choice on technology, winemakers need to:

• Search for the new ideas and solutions on display at trade-shows and fairs.
• Read the research papers from suppliers, wineries and universities.
• Ask other winemakers willing to share their own experiences with industry colleagues.
• Question distributors and suppliers who know what they sell, spend huge budgets on R&D and wish to answer your needs.
• Be online and connected. New ideas pop up everywhere and on all medias we consume.
• Travel and find the industry leaders in overseas markets - visit trade shows and wineries.
• Try, be curious and dedicate some of your time for in-house trials, but also take part in consolidated trials within the industry.

The point for wineries to note is that their options to apply technology to a range of uses - both winemaking and general business - have really opened up in a short amount of time, all participants should be aware of this, and should decide where they stand.

---