Skip to main content
  • About ELGA
    • About ELGA
    • Ultrapure water
    • Purification Technologies
    • Impurities In Water
    • Guides & White Papers
    • Approved Partners
    • Sustainability
    • Reducing Clinical Risks
    • Careers
    • Events
    • HPLC in Pharma
    • HPLC Water Purity
  • Blog
    • Analytical Chemistry
    • Clinical & Pharma
    • Cool Science
    • Environment and sustainability
    • Life in the lab
    • Purelab product design
    • Science of the future
    • Water Purity
    • Water in the lab
  • Contact
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português
  • 日本語
  • 中文
Home ELGA LabWater
  • Products
  • Applications
  • Case Studies
  • Support
  • Products
    • PURELAB
    • CENTRA
    • MEDICA
    • BIOPURE
    • ELGA Full Product Range
  • Applications
  • Case Studies
    • Abbott Diagnostics chooses ELGA MEDICA systems in South Asia
    • Beam Me Up, Scotty: PURELAB® Option Q Delivers Essential Ultra Pure Water
    • Clean Water for a Clean Future
    • Critital Tests Benefit from PURELAB® Option Reliable Pure Water
    • DASA: The biggest medical diagnostics company in Brazil
    • ELGA helps immuneserology labs maximize uptime
    • Importance of ultrapure Type 1+ water for the development of generic medicines
    • MEDICA® Pro selected for Siemens ADVIA® analyzers at City General Hospital
    • Optimale Wasserqualität für mikrobiologische Forschung und Lehre
    • PURELAB® Option R Guarantees Pure Water for Leading Microfluidics Technology
    • PURELAB® Pulse Delivers Reliable Water Quality and Quantity for a Wide Range of Applications
    • PURELAB® flex: an ideal training system for today's research method
    • Powering Cutting-Edge Gene Research
    • Sichere Reinstwasserversorgung für präzise Produkttests
    • Zentrale Reinstwasser-Aufbereitung für Analyser
    • ELGA LabWater and Beckman Coulter Join Forces
    • Applied New Technologies Department Improves ICP, IC & HPLC Sample Turnaround Times with PURELAB®
    • Unlocking the secrets of the Antarctic with the aid of ultrapure water
    • Advancing Genetic Technologies
    • Cross Infection Control: Pure and Simple
    • Researching effective new ways to prevent cardiovascular disease at the University of Columbia
  • Support
    • Support & Services
    • Laboratory Planning
    • Register a Product
    • Register Your Product (USA & Canada Only)
  • Products
    • PURELAB
      • PURELAB® flex 1 & 2
      • PURELAB® flex 3 & 4
    • CENTRA
      • CENTRA® 60/120
      • CENTRA® RDS
      • CENTRA® R200
    • MEDICA
      • MEDICA® 7/15
      • MEDICA® EDI 15/30
      • MEDICA® Pro EDI 60/120
      • MEDICA® Pro-LPS
      • MEDICA® Pro-R and Pro-RE
      • MEDICA® R200
    • BIOPURE
      • BIOPURE 7/15
      • BIOPURE 60/120
      • BIOPURE 200/300/600
    • ELGA Full Product Range
      • PURELAB® Classic
  • Applications
  • Case Studies
    • Abbott Diagnostics chooses ELGA MEDICA systems in South Asia
    • Beam Me Up, Scotty: PURELAB® Option Q Delivers Essential Ultra Pure Water
    • Clean Water for a Clean Future
    • Critital Tests Benefit from PURELAB® Option Reliable Pure Water
    • DASA: The biggest medical diagnostics company in Brazil
    • ELGA helps immuneserology labs maximize uptime
    • Importance of ultrapure Type 1+ water for the development of generic medicines
    • MEDICA® Pro selected for Siemens ADVIA® analyzers at City General Hospital
    • Optimale Wasserqualität für mikrobiologische Forschung und Lehre
    • PURELAB® Option R Guarantees Pure Water for Leading Microfluidics Technology
    • PURELAB® Pulse Delivers Reliable Water Quality and Quantity for a Wide Range of Applications
    • PURELAB® flex: an ideal training system for today's research method
    • Powering Cutting-Edge Gene Research
    • Sichere Reinstwasserversorgung für präzise Produkttests
    • Zentrale Reinstwasser-Aufbereitung für Analyser
    • ELGA LabWater and Beckman Coulter Join Forces
    • Applied New Technologies Department Improves ICP, IC & HPLC Sample Turnaround Times with PURELAB®
    • Unlocking the secrets of the Antarctic with the aid of ultrapure water
    • Advancing Genetic Technologies
    • Cross Infection Control: Pure and Simple
    • Researching effective new ways to prevent cardiovascular disease at the University of Columbia
  • Support
    • Support & Services
    • Laboratory Planning
    • Register a Product
    • Register Your Product (USA & Canada Only)
  • Deutsch
  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Português
  • 日本語
  • 中文
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Global Legal Compliance
  • Patents
  • Impressum

Let's talk about lab water

  • Categories
    • Analytical Chemistry
    • Clinical & Pharma
    • Cool Science
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Future Science
    • Life in The Lab
    • PURELAB Product Design
    • Science of the Future
    • Water In The Lab
    • Water Purity
  • Authors
    • ELGA Editorial Team
    • Natasha Zarach
    • Dr Paul Whitehead
    • Dr Alison Halliday
    • John Walker
Analytical Chemistry

Does The Type Of Wine Fermentation Vessel Matter?

16 Nov 2020
- by Dr Alison Halliday

Cropped image of loving couple is spending time together in modern restaurant. Attractive young woman in dress and handsome man in suit are having romantic dinner. Celebrating Saint Valentine's Day.

Winemakers face a growing choice of fermentation vessels, but the decision may have little impact on their final products.

Wineries need to make increasingly complex decisions around whether to use conventional cylindrical stainless–steel tanks, traditional oak barrels, or a selection of alternative types of vessel for fermenting grape juices into wine.

Alternative vessels include those made from forgotten and new material such as concrete, clay, or food-grade plastics. The use of oval-shaped vessels has also increased. While many claims are put forward around specific benefits from certain vessels, there is little scientific data about their impact on the composition and attributes of the finished wines.

A team of scientists set out to carry out a complete chemical, physical, and sensory characterisation of wines made from Sauvignon blanc grapes fermented in different vessels.1

The First Scientific Study

After harvesting grapes from a vineyard in the Leyda Valley in Chile, the juice was extracted and fermented in four different vessels: 150 L cylindrical stainless-steel tanks, 980 L polyethylene oval–shaped tanks, 450 L concrete oval-shaped tanks, and 225 L clay jars.

The researchers found that the finished wine fermented in the concrete vessels had slightly higher acidity than that produced in the stainless-steel tanks, while products fermented in clay jars had the lowest amounts of specific volatile compounds.

The team included microelemental quantification using microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. They used ultrapure water generated from an ELGA PURELAB® laboratory water purification system to reduce the risk of adding contaminants that might affect their results.

The wine fermented in concrete vessels contained the highest amounts of certain microelements, supporting the idea that inorganic compounds are released from the surface of this type of vessel during the process.

The Impact Of Shape

Oval–shaped vessels are thought to favour the formation of convection currents inside the liquids during fermentation, helping to solubilise macromolecular compounds. But the researchers found no differences in either the turbidity or polysaccharide content of the wines from differently shaped vessels.

However, wines produce in oval–shaped vessels did require a lower dose of a chemical needed to achieve protein stability than the others, suggesting that the vessel shape could impact on the stability of white wine proteins.

The wines fermented in oval-shaped vessels also had small differences in certain chemical and physical characteristics compared to other shapes. And a panel of wine experts described the fermented in these polyethylene tanks as the most bitter, and the product from these concrete tanks as the least fruity.

Similar Qualities

The study concludes that the type of vessels used to ferment white wine has little impact on its final colour, phenolic, or polysaccharide contents. But it may have a slightly greater impact on the wine acidity, elemental composition, volatile compounds content, potential stability, and sensory perceptions of the products.

However, as any shifts were all very small, this suggests that the fermentation vessel may not make much difference to the composition or qualities of the resulting wines.

Why Choose ELGA LabWater?

ELGA LabWater has been a trusted name in pure and ultrapure water since 1937. We believe in giving you choice in how you use our water purification solutions, supported by excellent service and support.

 

Reference:

  1. M. Gil i Cortiella. C. Úbeda, J.I. Covarrubias, et al. Chemical, physical, and sensory attributes of Sauvignon blanc wine fermented in different kinds of vessels. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies (2020):66;102521

 

Dr Alison Halliday
After completing an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry & Genetics at Sheffield University, Alison was awarded a PhD in Human Molecular Genetics at the University of Newcastle. She carried out five years as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UCL, investigating the genes involved in childhood obesity syndrome. Moving into science communications, she spent ten years at Cancer Research UK engaging the public about the charity’s work. She now specialises in writing about research across the life sciences, medicine and health.

Quest Download

PURELAB Quest

The only purifier on the market that dispenses all 3 types of science ready water from a compact, economical and easy to use system!

             Click Here To Find Out More

 

Highlights

1 Mar 2021
Detecting Viruses Using Smartphones
22 Feb 2021
Challenges in the Purification of Drinking Water Part 2
15 Feb 2021
Challenges in the Purification of Drinking Water Part 1
8 Feb 2021
Exploring the Ancient Hair Proteome
25 Jan 2021
Could Hemp Seeds Provide A Natural Sleep Aid?
18 Jan 2021
Forensic Toxicological Analysis Of Cannabinoids In Blood
14 Dec 2020
Developing Batteries Powered by Human Urine 
23 Nov 2020
Improving the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Infections

Categories

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Clinical & Pharma
  • Cool Science
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Future Science
  • Life in The Lab
  • PURELAB Product Design
  • Science of the Future
  • Water In The Lab
  • Water Purity

Video

  • Enquiry
  • Get a Quote
  • Book a Demo
  • Find an Approved Partner

Enquiry

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Get a Quote

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Book a Demo

Please check this to confirm that you have read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Call us

Can't find what you are looking for?

Support Number
+44 (0)20 3567 7300
United Kingdom Sales
+44 (0)1628 879 704
United States of America Sales
+1 877-315-3542
France Sales
+33 1 40 83 65 00
China Sales
+86 400-616-8882

 

ELGA LabWater Head Quarters

Lane End Business Park
Lane End, High Wycombe
HP14 3BY
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0) 203 567 7300
F: +44 (0) 203 567 7205

The Ultrapure Water Specialists

  • Support & Services
  • Events

Case Studies

  • Abbott Diagnostics
  • DASA Medical Diagnostics
  • NeoDIN Medical Institute
  • North Staffordshire NHS Trust
  • Olsberg Vocational College

Resources

  • Learn About Ultrapure Water
  • Guides and White Papers
  • Purification Technologies
  • Applications
  • Impurities In Water

Blogs

  • Latest Blog
  • Water Purity - Different Types of Pure Water
  • What is Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water (CLSI)?
  • What is Total Organic Carbon (TOC)?
  • Language
    • Deutsch
    • English
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Português
    • 日本語
    • 中文
  • Other Veolia Sites
    • Veolia
    • Veolia Fondation
    • Veolia Water Technologies

© VWS (UK) Ltd. trading as ELGA LabWater. 2021 - All rights reserved.
ELGA is the global laboratory water brand name of Veolia.

  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Global Legal Compliance
  • Patents
  • Impressum
Elga Veolia
TOP

© 2017 ELGA Veolia