vintechpacific.co.nz | newsletter #1
VintechPacific
WINE TECHNOLOGIES
New company name confirms our commitment to the wine industry
Vintech Pacific’s new STARS electrodialysis mobile unit now based in Marlborough. WHAT’S IN A NAME? A lot, we decided, involvement with the wine sector. technology underway, we decided it was when we first looked into the concept of We understood that the name Armourtech time to change to a company name that changing the name of our company. Since had a certain “industrial/security” sound would instantly signal a total commitment to 1998 we have been operating successfully about it. Still, we had more important what we are really all about. under the name Armourtech (NZ) Ltd, a things to concentrate on as we continued The name Vintech seemed the obvious brand Managing Director choice. It is similar to Guy Rutledge registered Armourtech but is more “The change from Armourtech to Vintech when the company first indicative of oenology. We Pacific is an important part in the process of started its association added the word Pacific to make specialisation in wine technologies.” with the wine industry in a point of difference and to New Zealand. “mark our territory”. However, as the company became to research and trial new technologies So we are now Vintech Pacific Limited. more and more involved in a variety of – technologies that have since become We have already started resigning our trucks new technologies and other wine industry everyday in wineries around our wine and mobile equipment – and the reaction advancements, it became clear the growing regions. has been totally positive. name didn’t quite resonate with its total This year, with even more investment in OVER PAGE >
V I N T E C H PA C I F I C L I M I T E D : Crossflow Filtration • MEMSTAR Reverse Osmosis Systems • STARS Selective Tartrate Removal Ultrafiltration • CellarGuardPlus Winery Sanitisation • Phoenix Diverse Barrel Solutions • Juice Flotation • Flash Pasteurisation • Ozone Barrel Cleaning • Rotary Drum Vacuum Filtration • JuiceWorks GJC • STS 45 Mobile Centrifuges • Microstar Mobile Testing Laboratory
vintechpacific.co.nz | newsletter #1
New brand Wine awards prove success signals new commitment Everything we do at Vintech Pacific has the goal of adding value and improving efficiency within the New Zealand wine making industry. With the new branding we can press ahead confident that the company will be recognisable for what it is – a provider of superior wine technologies. All our services – all focused on quality outcomes – are mobile to the winery door anywhere in New Zealand. Vintech Pacific recognises that the increasing international demand for New Zealand wine, and the subsequent need for rapid growth in winery infrastructure to meet this demand, continues to put pressure on individual wineries as they look to sourcing and financing new technologies. Our goal is to do the research, source the equipment, make the investment and provide the technology as a commercial service to all wineries. By being efficiently mobile and available nationwide our services mean there is no need for the expensive duplication of resources by individual wineries and even by regions. We have the field covered when it comes to providing technologies now considered desirable, if not necessary, within the wine industry. They are all extractive, nonadditive processes that in most cases eliminate old style techniques that, on reflection, were far less organic and much less efficient. Services include STARS Tartrate Removal, Rotary Drum Vacuum Filtration, MEMSTAR Reverse Osmosis Units, Ozone Sanitation and Barrel Washing, Flash Pasteurisation, Crossflow Filtration, STS 45 Centrifuges, Juice Flotation Units, Wine Warming and Ultra Filtration, Microstar Mobile Testing Laboratory and Wine Barrel Leasing. What’s in a name? Everything. Vintech Pacific is currently the leading provider of all these technologies and will continue to search the world for new breakthroughs in wine making – providing them all as expertly operated mobile services directly to the cellar door.
Multiple ways Vintech Pacific can enhance your winemaking • Selective Tartrate Removal System (STARS) — electrodialysis (ED) wine stablisation process for on-time, on-demand stability. • MEMSTAR Reverse Osmosis — for concentration of wines and juice, alcohol reduction, volatile acid reduction and taint removal (4EP/4EG). • Microstar Mobile Testing Laboratory — a portable wine testing laboratory to pretest the outcomes of various RO processes on a five litre wine sample prior to MEMSTAR treatment. • STS Mobile Centrifuges — gravity on demand for clarification of wines, juices and lees management. • Crossflow Filtration — multiple units ranging from 4 to 14 membrane for one-pass separations crucial to the quality, taste and colour of wine. • Mobile Rotary Drum Vacuum Filtration — for the efficient and economic management of lees. • Juice Flotation — for removal of solids and controlled clarification at vintage. • Flash Pasteurisation — for flavour profiling while improving aroma and shelf stability, enhancing flavour aspects while removing lacase. • Mobile Ozone Sanitation and Barrel Wash — for barrel cleaning and sanitation, tank cleaning and sanitation, clean-in-place systems and for general surface sanitation, including bottling lines. • Ultrafiltration — for the ultra fine tuning of wine, particularly the removal of selective green tannins and the removal of unwanted colourings. • Grape Juice Concentration (JuiceWorks GJC) — grape juice that is clarified to JuiceWorks specifications and then concentrated through an evaporation process to produce liquid concentrated grape sugar at 68º brix. CellarGuardPlus — a totally new food grade cleaning solution for surface sanitisation and protection from microbial contaminants and unwanted yeast in wineries. • Phoenix (Diverse Barrel Solutions) — a wine barrel rejuvenation process extending the life of wine barrels by up to three years at around half the cost of a new barrel.
vintechpacific.co.nz | newsletter #1
Centrifuge process has range of benefits VINTECH PACIFIC, NEW ZEALAND’S leader in wine technologies, has recently introduced a new mobile service to the New Zealand wine industry that promises to streamline wine making operations at both harvest and during preparation for blending and bottling. “The benefits of the new STS Centrifuge strengthens our commitment to the business of providing a full range of value added, highly efficient separation technologies to New Zealand winemakers,” says Guy Rutledge, Managing Director of Vintech Pacific Ltd (formerly Armourtech NZ Ltd). The first STS Centrifuge mobile unit has been recently set up in the Marlborough region. A second unit on order will see the service available in both North and South Islands by harvest 2012. “Centrifuge usage can streamline winemaking operations during both harvest and preparation for blending and bottling,” says Ashley Whittington, President of Separator Technology Solutions (STS). “From white juice settling to bentonite lees removal, this technology will greatly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of some of the most time consuming winemaking operations.” Providing the centrifuge technology as a mobile service to individual New Zealand wineries is possible because of the unit’s unique skid-mounted design, allowing for safe transport and setting up on site, along with necessary levelling to assure optimal operation. Vintech Pacific’s trained experienced operators assure efficient, trouble-free operation. The benefits of centrifuge filtration include a marked reduction in fining and settling time, while increasing filter life and reducing
The first of Vintech Pacific’s mobile STS centrifuge mobile units has been set up in Blenheim to service Marlborough and the south. A North Island unit is on order for the 2012 harvest. wine lost to lees. Solids from white juice are removed instantly with no cold settling or SO2 needed. Yeast can be removed to arrest fermentations and protein bound to bentonite can also be removed efficiently. The STS Centrifuge system is claimed to be a superior method for winery solids management and eliminates the need for the racking of juices and wines – therefore avoiding consequent product losses and quality value downgrades. The STS 45 is a disk type centrifuge with the capability to both process entire tanks of juice and wine, including the lees, and eject solids at such a thickness (e.g. 95% v/v) that no further product recovery is necessary, for example, by lees filter or RDV filter. Guy Rutledge says there are three principal paybacks and quality outcomes with the STS Centrifuge service.
“The first is the reduction in juice and wine losses compared with racking or desludge from older or under performing centrifuges. “The second major benefit is there are less juice and wine quality or value downgrades using the STS Centrifuge system. Conventional lees handling processes often lead to a degradation of quality and value by loss of freshness and oxidation. This often has the unwanted outcome of compromising the varietal or regional integrity and character of the finished wine. “Thirdly, the STS process eliminates the need for DE filtration – principally lees filter and rotary drum vacuum (RDV) filtration. While typically modest the actual direct hard savings in reduced DE consumption are of consequence in the financial justification of the STS Centrifuge mobile service,” he says.
A new age of hygiene coming soon from joint venture A NEW SANITISATION CONCEPT for wineries, branded CellarguardPlus, is to be offered in New Zealand by Cellargroup Ltd – a new company in which VIntech Pacific is a partner. Wineries are constantly under attack by microbes in the form of bacteria, viruses, algae, mould, mildew, yeast and other fungi. Once established, these harmful contaminants cause odours, discolouration, property damage, allergies and disease. Many microbes have mutated or adapted to the chemicals being used to control them and are being called “Super Bugs”, needing even stronger chemicals to target them. CellarguardPlus’s leading edge technology is a totally different approach. While other antimicrobials rely on poisons and other toxic chemicals or heavy metal ions, CellarguardPlus uses a patented molecular technology that destroys microbes
mechanically. CellarguardPlus will safely and effectively reduce bacteria, unwanted yeast and mildew by up to 99.99% and inhibit their return for months at a time from a single application. CellarguardPlus has approvals from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) and can be used safely around food. Because of the nontoxic nature of the product it is ideal for use in food manufacturing to eliminate bacteria and manage hygiene. The manufacturers of CellarguardPlus have conducted independent trials and have test results showing effectiveness against all bacteria found in food manufacturing, including E. coli, Listeria and MRSA.
vintechpacific.co.nz | newsletter #1
What our clients say about us
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Sacred Hill Wines Ltd has engaged the services of Vintech Pacific, formerly known as Armourtech, for many years as a service provider of high technology specialist winery processing equipment. In our experience, this company has always delivered on its promises and provided a highly customer orientated and professional service. They maintain a quality approach in the operation and maintenance of their specialist equipment ensuring our wine product integrity is maintained throughout the process.
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Tony Bish, Chief Winemaker, Sacred Hill Wines Limited.
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Marisco Vineyards has invested heavily in a new high tech winery in Marlborough. Vintech Pacific has become integral in assisting with the flow of quality wine production for my company. Its versatility, professionalism and delivery of appropriate wine processing services has allowed my own winemaking team to concentrate on the smooth flow of winemaking during a very busy growth phase ensuring we meet tight delivery time tables with the best quality wine possible.
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Brent Marris, Proprietor and Chief Winemaker, Marisco Vineyards.
Providing new life for ageing wine barrels
VERY POSITIVE RESULTS from recent testing of the Phoenix robotic barrel rejuvenation system has seen Vintech Pacific begin the introduction of another ground-breaking technology to the New Zealand wine industry. During the 2010 vintage 25 selected New Zealand wine makers took part in the tests after being supplied with recycled, rejuvenated wine barrels using a new concept patented in Australia by Diverse Barrel Solutions. A successful outcome means we are now partnering with Diverse Barrel Solutions and introducing new machinery and technology to New Zealand to provide the Phoenix rejuvenation concept as a new Vintech Pacific mobile service for our wine industry clients. The system will be in place to have barrels ready for the 2012 vintage. The Phoenix system takes wine barrels that have reached their use-by date and removes all wine contaminants, exposing clean wood and restoring original oak flavour characteristics. The hi-tech Phoenix process utilises precision laser scanning which takes in excess of 3,500 individual point readings to generate a 3-D cut matrix. A high speed computer controlled cutting tool then removes up to 8mm off the inside of the barrel to reveal clean oak. The patented rejuvenation process extends the life of wine barrels by up to three years at around half the cost of a new barrel. The contaminated oak removal is so effective that even barrels previously containing red wine can be used successfully for white wine fermentation and maturation, as demonstrated by a number of the New Zealand trial participants. Ultra-consistent infrared toasting is applied using computer technology that removes the risk of toast variation and blistering. Each barrel is then re-crozed and fitted with 24 month, country of origin, seasoned French or American oak heads. Wineries throughout Australia are already taking advantage of this unique process where a Phoenix unit can process as many as 40 barrels a day and it has proved popular with wineries from McLaren Vale to the Hunter Valley. Mike Brown, winemaker at Gemtree Vineyards in McLaren Vale, says: “Diverse Barrel Solutions “Phoenixed” about 25 red wine barrels for me which I am now using in a Petit Verdot trial. So far we’ve done two tastings and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results – the rejuvenation process has added a lot of complexity to barrels that I would have turned into flower pots. I gave them 2000 and 2002 oak barrels – realistically they only had another year in them. The process has given me at least three more years of oak. Using the Phoenix process I’ve saved $1.60 per litre this year. “We had 20 five year old barrels Phoenixed last year and it has saved us a lot of money. We’ve always assumed that after five years the barrels can’t be reused, which seems like a huge waste given that they are such a capital expense for wineries. It’s great to see that some people are out there looking to try and extend the life of barrels. If we can extend the life of the barrel from five to eight years and basically get a new barrel for the last three years, that is a major benefit.” JAMES EVERS, WINEMAKER, YALDARA ESTATE BAROSSA VALLEY.
V I N T E C H P A C I F I C L I M I T E D a PO Box 2160, Gisborne, NZ e info@vintechpacific.co.nz p 06 863 0024 f 06 863 0025 w vintechpacific.co.nz
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