Giesen ushers in a new era of palate fining for their award-winning 0% Merlot
Above: amaea’s molecular filtration system on-site
Reports are reflecting a worldwide decline in wine consumption, where areas such as increased cost considerations and the move to more conscientious consumerism have been flagged as contributing factors.
Decisions that will help future-proof businesses require progressive thinking and for New Zealand wine producer, Giesen Group, ensuring consumer relevancy is an area readily embraced.
“Giesen is a supporter of technology, change and innovation in the wine industry. We understand that to stay relevant, the industry has to evolve,” says Director of Winemaking at Giesen Group, Duncan Shouler. “We have to change as the consumer changes.”
A mindset deeply embedded in the culture of the business, Giesen are paving the way in the 0% alcohol category, but it doesn’t stop there. They are continually looking for new methodologies that align to changing consumer considerations while delivering on their operational mandates and corporate social responsibilities – and it is from here they turned to amaea.
Challenge
Boasting an enviable range of multi-award-winning non-alcoholic wines, Giesen are no strangers to producing quality products for this increasingly popular category. However, producing these wines doesn’t come without its challenges.
“Typically, when you remove alcohol from wine, certain traits and characteristics start to stand out. For our Merlots, the tannins become prominent, and the warmth and sweetness are lost,” says Shouler.
“For palate fining, we traditionally add gelatine which, though effective at softening phenolic content, isn’t vegan friendly and isn’t entirely selective which means it removes more than is intended.”
“When using single-use fining agents, it is multi-step, there is associated yield loss and, as we predominantly source our fining agents from Europe, there are carbon footprint implications.”
“When we were introduced to amaea PFx, we saw a technique that enabled us to balance polyphenols without relying on animal additions, it was environmentally conscientious and had the potential to provide a more financially sustainable alternative to traditional fining practices.”
Solution
Above: amaea MIPs
amaea PFx uses molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), a filtration media uniquely designed to selectively remove molecular compounds in wines for mouthfeel fining.
For Giesen amaea PFx was used in place of gelatin, to conduct palate fining of their 2023 Hawkes Bay Merlot. The wine was processed at the same stage in which gelatin would have been added; post light filtration and prior to de-alcoholization. For Shouler this was the ideal time to conduct the fining from both a wine stability and process perspective.
Prior to commercial treatment, a bench-top trial was undertaken with Shouler and his team to determine the ideal dose and flow rates (the measure of contact time and available capture sites) to achieve their desired sensory outcome.
For the commercial treatment, amaea filtered the Merlot on-site, in one pass, using a column containing amaea’s regenerable MIPs. After every 6,000L of wine processed, the MIPs were run through an elution cycle, to be used again. For quality control, the wine was continually tasted throughout the treatment by Giesen.
Results
Sensory balance
Overall, the sensory profile of the wine was successfully balanced using amaea PFx, gaining approval from Giesen for the wine to be bottled for commercial sale.
“Using amaea PF the Merlot got to where it needed to be. The wine softened and the perceived sweetness increased to achieve the ideal palate and mouthfeel,” says Shouler.
“Modern day processing aids and fining agents are relatively targeted but amaea’s technology has the ability to be more targeted to achieve desired results while keeping in place the attributes you want to keep.”
Product marketability
By replacing the need to use an animal-based fining agent, amaea PFx provided favorable labelling options.
“By using amaea PF we were able to keep our product vegan friendly and we were able to reduce the number of additives noted on the label. This is increasingly important to us especially to comply with European labelling standards.”
Operational gains
The ability to streamline processes, retain yield and reduce their footprint are strong motivators for adopting amaea’s technology.
“Traditional fining methods are multi-step, requiring time for agents to settle and time for us to rack off lees. By using amaea PFx these steps were no longer required, and we also removed the need to use additional tanks,” says Shouler.
“Any time savings that can be achieved are always desired in winemaking, especially for tighter bottling schedules. As the system is scaled, I see the potential to also mitigate yield loss and reduce our carbon footprint.”
Where to from here
For their 0% Merlot, Giesen have hold back samples and controls to evaluate how the product develops and ages in the bottle. However, for Shouler, the beauty of the system is where the technology can take them.
“I believe as amaea’s technology develops it has the potential to replace traditional wine production techniques and the reliance on additives.
It focuses on key areas of large-scale production that will keep us relevant to the consumer; to become more environmentally conscientious and more financially sustainable for consumers.
Technologies, like amaea’s are not only necessary, but are an exciting evolution of wine production methodologies. We need to take wine back to the basics for consumer benefit.”
Treatment summary
Wine varietal: 2023 Hawkes Bay Merlot (non-alcoholic category)
Volume of wine processed: 30,000 litres
Date of treatment: October 2023
Applied dose rate: 0.75 g/L
Applied flow rate: 120 CV/hr
Treatment conducted by: amaea
amaea solution: amaea PFx
About Giesen Group
Giesen Wines was founded over 40 years ago, establishing its reputation as a high-quality wine producer, and increasingly, a driver for innovation in the wine industry. As a world leader in non-alcohol wines, they are also one of New Zealand’s top-rated wineries.
About Duncan Shouler
Having joined Giesen in 2017, Duncan Shouler’s extensive experience and leadership spearheaded the company’s venture into no-alcohol wines which have earned global recognition. Accolades include 'Winery of the Year' and 'Champion Winemaker of Show' awards and are matched by his ongoing pursuit of becoming a Master of Wine.