Articles
2019 Mornington Peninsula Wine Show
Last Friday, Vintessential’s Wally Ceccato was pleased to be part of the 2019 Mornington Peninsula Vignerons Wine Show in Victoria. Wally was honoured to help on the day—presenting the award for Best Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio to the 2018 Willow Creek Pinot Gris.
Loss of Aromas and Freshness in Your Wine?
Ageing in wine is caused by oxidation. In white wines, oxidation will often lead to browning, pinking, bitterness and a loss of aroma. In red wines, oxidation will typically result in the development of pruned fruit flavours, flattened palate and an increase of brown or orange hues. Enartis has specially designed a program to help […]
Perfecting Wines Naturally
Tannins and polysaccharides are important tools featured in winemaking—typically used to polish the wine and overall increase its quality. Tannin additions will help balance the taste of the wine through decreasing the alcoholic sensation. Tannins can also help improve the wine aroma by heightening elements such as oak, fruit and spice notes. Tannins and polysaccharides […]
Wine with low or Zero SO2 Addition
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is often regarded as one of the most controversial additives within the winemaking industry. For this reason, winemakers have been trying for years to find alternatives to use that are healthy for human consumption. Thanks to Enartis, there’s finally now safe and accurate substitutes when it comes to sulfur dioxide. Enartis provides […]
What are Oak Alternatives?
Oak barrels have been used by winemakers for years to enhance sweetness, improve the aromatic profile and assist with colour stabilisation in wine. Oak barrels are still considered one of the superior methods when it comes to treating wines. Unfortunately, oak barrels come with many challenges for winemakers, including cost, storage space, ease of use […]
FAQ on Wine Fining
The fining process is a crucial stage in the production of all wine types. In winemaking, fining agents are used for a variety of different purposes including clarification, filterability improvement, haze prevention, sediment formation, organoleptic profile improvement, colour adjustment and removal of undesirable elements or flavors. Fining involves two very important reactions: flocculation and sedimentation. […]
“Low preservative” wines – just how low is low?
As part of a recent project to develop a new Test Kit for the determination of Sulfur Dioxide for use with Spectrophotometer and Discrete Analysers, we tested a batch of commercially purchased wines labelled “low preservative”, so we could be sure that the Test Kits worked across the full range of sulfur dioxide levels. To our surprise, a number of these wines were not low at all! This is of concern to our industry as some consumers are very interested in and aware of the preservative levels of the foods and drinks they purchase. Is it time for the wine industry to decide what the level of sulfur dioxide should be to qualify for a “low preservative” statement?
Vintessential Orange Recognised at Business Awards
Vintessential Laboratories Orange is delighted to be the recipient of the ‘Excellence in Micro Business’ award presented by the Orange Chamber of Business at the 2019 Business Awards.
Enzymatic testing in the wine lab
Enzymatic methods in the wine laboratory are incredibly accurate, fast and safe, helping to generate important information about your wine to ensure the most informed decisions are made. Whether the methods are performed on a benchtop spectrophotometer or an automatic analyzer, understanding the equipment and materials you are working with is essential to getting the right result the first time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always go to plan, so it’s important to understand what can be causing poor results and how to fix it.
Water Testing at Vintessential Laboratories Hobart Tasmania
Did you know that Vintessential Laboratories in North Hobart, Tasmania has been operating now for almost 3 years?! How time flies. As well as our usual beverage and wine testing services, we have seen great demand in providing fast, reliable analysis of drinking, irrigation, effluent and bore water. That means whether your water is smelling funky, is coming out of the tap an odd colour or if you have been pondering whether your illness is due to E.coli in your water, Vintessential is here to help.
Co-inoculation: the latest great development in malolactic fermentation
Introduction Commercial strains of malolactic bacterial cultures have been available for many years. Until recently, these cultures were added after the completion of the alcoholic (yeast) fermentation. New research has enabled the development of strains of bacteria that can be added at the same time that yeast is added (co-inoculation). The advantages of co-inoculation are […]
Brettanomyces and Under Pressure! – Testing Times – September 2018
Brettanomyces A customer recently sent a number of red wine samples to check for the presence of Brettanomyces. After discussions it was decided to plate the wines for the microbial presence of Brettanomyces bruxellensis (aka Brett) colony forming units and also to measure for the presence of the marker compounds 4 ethyl phenol and 4 […]
Bentonite fining, Titratable Acidity and Getting Low… – Testing Times August 18
Low pH red wine At our laboratories we service a wide array of winemaking clients, from large wine companies through to backyard hobbyists. We also see a wide variety of wines, from finished products through to works very much ‘in progress’. Recently we encountered a red wine from a very small producer with an unusually […]
Drinking Water Testing
Update: Now available – Water testing in Hobart, Tasmania. Is your rainwater safe to drink? Many gastrointestinal illnesses are caused by bacteria in drinking water. Whatever the age or size of your tank, the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) recommend regular testing to ensure it does not contain harmful levels of bacteria. Water from your […]
Natural Wines and Foaming Cider Kegs! – Testing Times July 18
Natural wine To quote wine writer Max Allen (1) “The hottest wine trend of the decade? That’s easy: all things natural. Grapes grown with a minimum of sprays, preferably organic or biodynamic; nothing added in the cellar except perhaps a small amount of sulphur dioxide preservative at bottling. Just wine. It’s also been the […]
Stuck Ferements, Case Study and Alcohol Content Labelling for Export – Testing Times June 18
Stuck Ferments Every vintage and every region has its own particular issues. So there is always something to keep us interested in the lab. Often the issues are minor or sometimes they are region-wide and a bit of a pain. One problem that appears to some degree, in some place, every year, is the issue […]
Fermented Juices, Tank Water Testing and High Acid Cider – Testing Times May 18
Winery tank issues – for water that is! Vintage is the time when we typically see lots of winemaking fermentation problems – but we thought you might need a break from all that. So in case you’re sick of thinking about wine at the moment, this month we take a look at an interesting issue […]
pH Testing, Smokey Wines and A Sticky Situation! – Testing Times March 18
Smoke taint concerns from February bushfire in Orange (Image Credit: Christina Bos) Our NSW manager, Christina Bos, knew it was a bad sign for the local wine industry when she saw the columns of smoke rising off Mt Canobolas from her front veranda in Orange one weekend in February. For those that know this gorgeous […]
