Australian companies have lifted the wraps off a raft of innovations aimed at the country's wine sector at the recent WineTech expo in Sydney.
JMP Holdings led the way, with a new bulk wine tank developed in collaboration with Spanish company Trust winning the show's “Wow” Award for best new innovation, service or product at the show.
The companies' new Trust Flexitank is a bulk wine container developed specifically to address logistical and quality problems associated with conventional tanks for wine export.
JMP regional sales manager Matthew Moate told Food & Drink Business the containers could potentially revolutionise the export of wine from Australia. At present, some 54 per cent of the country's wine exports is transported in bulk.
“The industry is very concerned about oxygen taint in wines transported in typical tank containers,” Moate said.
Moate said the company's Trust Flexitanks were designed to fit snugly within a container, with the seams welded securely to avoid any breaches which would contaminate the wine.
At IMCD's stand, the company was demonstrating a new system that uses CMC (Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose) as a method for imparting tartrate stability in wine.
According to Sue Mills, IMCD's business manager, filtration, CMC was approved for winemaking in Australia in late 2011, and based on early tests, IMCD has defined some key aspects that influence CMC performance.
A new development unveiled by Abeve is its “Rocket” high solids crossflow filter, which filters juice lees, flotation lees, ferment lees and tank bottoms.
According to Abeve, the new technology is based on rotating ceramic disks which makes it more reliable and enables it to run for longer between servicing than other offerings on the market.
Packaging giant Amcor, meanwhile, launched an extended range of its Stelvin Inside wine breathable screw cap liners to the Australian market at the show.
The two new additions to the range provide a greater variety of oxygen barrier properties to wine makers.
“Originally, we had two types of liners on the market to control the oxygen transmission rate to wine bottles, but now we have four to give winemakers a real alternative for their operations,” sales director for Amcor's Europe-based Flexibles business, Andres del Solar, told F&DB at WineTech.
“It gives winemakers more possibilities in terms of controlling and fine-tuning the oxygen transmission rate to suit their particular blends of wine,” he said.
Amcor's Andres del Solar helps launch the company's expanded Stelvin wine cap liner range at WineTech in Sydney.
