Refreshingly easy to drink, this versatile, fruity, sparkling wine from the Veneto region of Northern Italy is now bubbling worldwide. Gaining acceptance as a less expensive alternative to Champagne, it is rapidly becoming the drink of choice for consumers seeking a fashionable, festive, sparkling wine which won’t break the budget.

Prosecco is both the name of the grape and wine, primarily grown in the hills from Conegliano and Valdobbiane,- the main areas of production in the Veneto region (just north of Venice). It is produced using the Charmat method whereby the secondary fermentation takes place in large steel vats. Contact with the yeast is brief which is why Prosecco is typically fresh, fruity and slightly aromatic.

In 2009 the Italian government recognized the distinctive geographic area of Coneglian and Valdobbiane by awarding it the prestigious DOCG status (Denominazione di Origine Controllata). The G stands for “Guaranteed” and basically ensures the winemakers must adhere to stricter guidelines than DOC wines. The primary difference is these wines must undergo an in-depth chemical analysis and evaluation of a tasting committee before they can be bottled. They are then are sealed with a numbered governmental seal across the cap or cork.

Considering there are only 41 DOCG regions in Italy compared to 300 DOC this is a noteworthy allocation and entitles Prosecco extra prestige and recognition as an exclusive sparkling wine in its own right.

This newly acquired status can only help worldwide sales of Prosecco which have already increased visibly according to Mondial Wine. In the UK alone, sales have doubled; Pierpaolo Petrassi Senior Product Development Manager for Italy at Tesco explains, “Prosecco is stylistically appropriate for UK consumers who are not looking for more structured, (usually) drier and more premium-priced Champagne.”. It is traditionally served without food and is fresh in style.

In America; “Prosecco is on fire and will continue to grow as consumers look for alternatives to high-priced Champagne,” says Leonardo LoCascio, president and CEO of Winebow Inc.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, consumption of Italian sparkling wines grew 14 percent, up to 16.7 million litres from 14.7 million litres the previous year. This growth includes other popular sparkling wines coming out of Italy, such as Oltrepo’Pavese, Asti Spumante and the prestigious Franciacorta. A crisp and elegant sparkling wine, it is often compared to Champagne, as it uses the same grape varieties and production method (methode Champenoise) where secondary fermentation takes place in bottles. Though lower in cost, Francicorta undergoes even stricter regulations than Champagne regarding maximum yield and maturation time. It is produced in much smaller quantities than Prosecco, but it is another of Italy’s sparkling wines gaining worldwide recognition and accolade.

It is not only the Americans and Europeans who are embracing Italian sparkling wines with such fervour, sales in Hong Kong (regarded as the Asian hub) recorded a dramatic rise of 81.2% in terms of value.

In December last year, Italian farmers' union Coldiretti said that exports of Italian sparkling wine would exceed domestic consumption for the first time. It said Prosecco was showing "dynamic" growth in foreign markets. Around 340m bottles of sparkling wine were produced in Italy in 2009, with around 160m bottles supporting the new Prosecco DOC and DOCG denominations.

Most commonly drunk on its own, Prosecco also makes for an enticing cocktail. Undoubtedly the most famous Prosecco based cocktail would be the Bellini, from the renowned “Harrys Bar in Venice”Frequented by the Genre of Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde and Henry Fonda, Harrys Bar has always been a destination for an artistic entourage.The Bellini cocktail was invented by its owner back in the 40’s andaccording to their Head Barman it still remains the most popular drink onthe menu – “perfect whatever the time, whatever the season”.

The Bellini is prepared with freshly squeezed white peach juice and prosecco, served in a chilled Champagne flute. The perfect end to a perfectday.

Salute!!

Christine Macleod

Christine@vinouno.com

www.vinouno.com

For the cork and corkscrew—the question of “chicken and egg” is an easy one. Exactly when or by whom the corkscrew was invented is unknown. But as corks became a more common way to cap containers, our beer or wine guzzling forefathers clearly needed a way to access the goods they had so wonderfully learned to seal.

The earliest reference to a corkscrew comes in 1681 where it is called a “steel worm used for the drawing of corks out of bottles.” The term “steel worm” was derived by gunsmiths, likely the first producers of corkscrews, who had crafted similar tools by the same name for cleaning the barrel of a musket.

It was not until the early 18th century, however, that corks were used for wine in the way in which we are currently accustomed. After some major technology breakthroughs in the glass blowing industry, craftsmen were able to shape bottles with long straight sides and skinny necks—a design that allowed later-day vintners to seal, and thus age, a bottle of wine.

While its task and form are simple, artisans have found many ways to decorate and shape the corkscrew throughout the millennia. Some disguise it, some keep it simple, and others pay tribute to various other hobbies or cultures.

As one begins to build and design a wine cellar, one thing is often overlooked, amusingly…the wine bottles. Wine bottles come in many sizes and shapes: The 750 ml is your most common, but there are splits which are 1/4 the size of the normal, Magnums which are equal to 2 normal bottles, Jeroboams which are equal to 4 bottles, and Methuselahs (everyone’s favorite) which are equal to 8 bottles. So you can see how important it is to really think about what type of bottles you will plan to store.

Bordeaux wines from France have the normal 750ml appearance, and New World wines based on Bordeaux grape varieties do as well. Red wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot usually come in dark green Bordeaux bottles. White wines based on Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and dessert wines like Sauternes come in clear or light-green Bordeaux bottles. Italian wines like Chianti or Californian wines like Zinfandel may also use this bottle shape. What’s good about these wine bottles is they’re easy to store in a wine rack. You don’t need to use bulk storage and can therefore maximize storage capacity, which can be critical if you have a small storage space like a wine refrigerator or cabinet.

Burgundy wine bottles are elegant, slope-shouldered, dark-green, with a wide body. Traditional Burgundy grape varieties are Pinot Noir (red) and Chardonnay (white). New World producers of these grape varieties also use this same bottle shape. Other French wine-producing regions use a similar bottle, like the Loire Valley and the Rhone (grape variety – Syrah). However, the Rhone bottle is not quite as wide and the slope is more severe than a Burgundy bottle. In general, Bordeaux bottles are 3 inches in diameter, while Burgundy bottles are 3.5. Since most wine racks are designed for the former, Burgundy wine bottles can cause a lot of storage problems. If this is your wine preference consider the space of your wine cellar.

Champagne wine bottles, Turley, and Magnums can be very similar in appearance to Burgundy bottles. Like Burgundy bottles they are also 3.5 inches in diameter or more, but they are much thicker and heavier bottles, with big indentations in the bottom of the bottle. These bottles are designed to withstand 90 pounds per square inch of pressure, which is three times the pressure in a typical car tire. Champagne wine bottles have storage problems very similar to Burgundy bottles and the solutions are the same (either adding large format wine racks or using diamond bins or case bins). Again, consider your wine cellar space.

Always keep your bottles stored in wine racks that will keep your corks moist. Store your wines in a room which has a stable and consistent temperature and humidity level (70%), little to no vibrations, and obviously no odors (including stains, wood species, and even paint finishes).

Design is very important to each wine cellar but one should not overlook function as well. With the proper wine cellar design, you should be able to achieve your dream design with affordability and functionality as well.

Cheers!

Joseph Kline
Principal. Design & Cellar Concepts.

Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars & Humidors

We design, build, stock and manage.

www.josephandcurtis.com 
www.facebook.com/josephandcurtis 

Sustainability is the need of the hour and seeing the wine industry growing to a very large extent everyone wants to get into it. Being in this wine industry for such a long time has anyone seriously thought about getting organic and applying any of the bio-dynamic preparations especially belonging to a country – INDIA; where most of these applications have their origins from!!! These preparations include applying most of the natural resources from our mother nature with just a bit of modifications like we make our food.

My first day of work @ Burn Cottage vineyard (Central Otago, NZ)....Wow! Didn’t ever imagine I would do all this on a foreign land that too when I come from a country where all these activities are considered to be holy "My India" and carried out on a daily basis especially in the rural areas....Had just heard about sustainability, organic and bio-dynamic wine but never got a chance to work with one...SO here I am.....

Collecting cow dung every morning was bit of experience. I never thought of doing this on a foreign land that too when I come from a country where all these activities are considered to be holy and are daily activities in most of the Indian rural areas. Initially to my surprise I never thought that these foreigners would ever put their bare hands into this so called *** which is considered to be holy only in INDIA, but I was wrong. Every one of us got our bare hands into the collected cow dung every morning and treated it as normal dough to make it more consistent adding some basalt and egg shell pieces.

It’s made sure that this cow dung comes from the cows where they are kept in a very good environment...grazed naturally on the paddocks...all the cows here were from Scotland...Looked like pretty Eskimo Cows :P

The cow dung had to be fresh, with consistency, just like our chapatti flour dough...did u ever thought of selecting cow dung properties...so there we go....in bio-dynamic activities u need to be careful with all these points....

After collecting a few handful of cow dung we got them on to a sorting table where we sorted out the dung for any crap found in it. Just imagine the tiny dirty worms were not considered to be crap. They looked so disgusting, but yes they are very good to maintain the consistency of the cow dung. So just close your eyes and get on to the dung, put your soft hands into it to make it more consistent just like u do to your dough while preparing pizzas...don’t u ??? :P

After that this matter is filled into such brick made pits which are called the 'cow pat pits (CPP)'....after filling it in these pits they are to be mixed over a period of time and rotated just to keep it breathing and give it a mix at least twice a week so that it becomes consistent on all sides....after 5-6 months it actually turns itself into earthy matter and gives a very good earthy aroma which makes you very difficult to believe that this was actually fresh cow dung a few months ago....and it was surprisingly true to my eyes after seeing the samples of these....

There are a lot of bio-dynamic preps: like CPP, 500, 501, 502 - 507...out of these I got the opportunity to make the CPP, 504, 507, 501 and use the 500 as well...u must be imagining what crap I am saying about all these numbers...that’s d fun mate!!!

ok lets begin...:

CPP - cow pat pit
500 - In this the cow dung that I spoke before is filled in cow horns and buried under the ground for around 3 months and then the matter is used to mix in water or stinging nettle tea to sprinkle over the vineyard.
501 - Silica along with cow dung is filled just like 500 and buried under and then used.
502 - Yarrow flowers are fermented in deer's bladder.
503 - Chamomile flowers are just fermented in the soil and applied on compost
504 – That’s my favourite. I love the sting from the nettle. It’s like someone’s pinching you from within you whole night or just poking a needle on u...u should have seen my Vineyard Manager ‘Jared’ the way he handles the nettle...he doesn’t even get the sting now a days since he has have got so many. So 504 is basically about cutting the nettle plant into small pieces...just chop it down and put it in hot water and make a tea out of it...and just drink a sip!!! Hey I am just kidding, it’s now ready to sprinkle it on your vineyards :D
505 - Oak barrel pieces are fermented in the skull of a domestic animal preferably sheep as NZ's sheep population is 15times the population of human beings :P
506 - In this the dandelion flowers are fermented in a cow mesentery and then applied over...
507 - Valerian flowers look very pretty. Small white coloured ones. From the flowers, attempt is made only to take the petals from the entire flower and then crush them down in typical

Indian traditional way like you chop garlic and ginger and then fermented over a period of one week or so in a glass jar and then the juice is drained out and filled in empty bottles.
Sorry, but I do not have any personal experience about how they go about with the rest of the preps as I dint get to experience them with my own hands :P but yes I am sure they must be fun to prepare just like the others :)

In the alongside picture u can see a cement kind of structure where the nettle tea water is just flowing down and then revolving back and flowing down again just like a normal fountain water. This actually is creating a vortex as well as shape of 8 while its going down. The concept of vortex is actually very interesting to know about. Even I was amused to know it and it actually makes sense. Even while you mix the CPP or nettle tea u mix it in a way with a stick so that u create a vortex while u mixing it....it’s about absorbing all the energies of the universe that are around u...have u ever seen a galaxy picture??? The universe pic??

how it looks - like u r going into its vortex round n round n round....lots of star inside it....yes d same way looks d vortex of these solutions...so it is said that when u create a vortex it takes d energies from the universe and when u sprinkle it on the vineyard all these energies are transferred into them and help their growth....


You must be imagining why am I holding this cute little chicken in my hand...

No don’t worry I didn’t had it in my dinner...these are actually free range chickens which are on the entire vineyard...they help maintain the bio-dynamic and organic activities that we carry....whatever preps that we make and sprinkle on vineyard result in having nice earth worms inside the soil of the vineyard which keeps soil healthy...and also there are some ugly insects which may destroy the vine plants in some way or the other for example a orange ugly grass rub which take on the roots of the vine plants...so these chickens they actually feed on such little insects and help in keeping the soil healthy, wealthy and wise.

Sustainability, organic and bio-dynamics are huge concepts which can be applied on nature to keep it healthy and cannot be explained in one go. Here I would like to give you reference of a very good book "Grasp: The Nettle" By Peter Proctor and lot of his works in India. It has been seen that most of these practices still exist but none of them ever heard about applying them around the Indian wine industry. So, this is just a thought that I would like to share with each one of you. Hopefully I will be hearing someone from the Indian Wine Industry doing something like this very soon

Enjoy....Think Organic and be Sustainable!!!

Most of us aren't conditioned to stop and look at wine, but it's the start of the fun. Pour a glass and take a moment to notice and admire the color.

Color can tell you a lot about the maturity or condition of a wine. If it's browned out, the wine could have been badly stored or it may be mature but past drinkability. White wine can fade, showing gradations of color. Fading - meaning the color pales out toward the edges - has a bad connotation and usually implies that the wine has lost its intensity.

Young healthy red wines, as a general rule, show a very deep purple or mulberry purple before they begin to mature. A common term people use for this stage of maturity is "ruby colored". As they age, many but not all red wines take on different hues, sometimes invoking words like "garnet" or "warm orange" at the rim. These are subtleties, but if a red wine is very yellow or brown at the rim, it's probably past its peak.

Most wine bottles are green, so you can't see the true wine color. There's a good reason to put red wine in green bottles: simply to protect it from the light. I don't think you'll ever see a bottle of red wine that's not in green glass. But the myriad variations of reds or whites stress the argument for only pouring wine into clear glasses, or if you choose to, into a clear glass decanter.

There are thousands of variations and depths of color related to wine. Red can be a deep red, as opaque and dark as a mahogany stain. There are rich, lush reds and the deep purple of a young wine. Some wines are so opaque, you can't see through them to the bottom of the glass. Others are light and clear.

The visual experience with white wine is totally different from that with reds. With whites, you look for depth, clarity, and shadings of color. Some whites are gold straw yellow, lemon yellow, or green tinged, others turn a pale gold or golden with age, depending on the wines and whether they are dry or sweet.

TIP: Once you've got at least a third of a glass of wine, don't hold it up to the light or at arm's distance in front of you. Instead, take your glass and tilt it slightly against a white surface or napkin. You'll see the real color. Shades of color extend from the middle of the glass to the rim when you tilt it, too.

Judy Beardsall
Johnny Russo
www.JudyBeardsall.com

Cognac - The Spirit of France

When the distillation of Cognac was an art almost two hundred years old, the makers began to age the brandy in barrels of Limousin oak which happened to be at hand. The result was Cognac as we know it now - Rajiv Seth.

France produces a wide variety of extraordinary spirits, liqueurs, fortified and sparking wines, catering to every drinker's choice and satisfaction. Foremost amongst these are its brandies distilled either from wine or fruits, and the premier among all these potables it indubitably, the Cognac. Unquestionably the best brandy in the world, it has always found a place in the ostentation of regal splendors.

The Cognac history traces itself back to almost 300 years, when a need arose to conservate and transport the soft wines of Charente in France which were enjoying a healthy export market as early as the 12th century. All had gone unperturbed till the coastal and channel waters of the Atlantic became tumultuous with war, thus delaying shipments and spoiling wines.

Al home also, the wine trade was burdened by domestic taxes and overproduction.

To allay these obstacles, an ingenious solution was sought of distilling the wine into a concentrate of low volume and high strength, so that the drinker would simply add water and reconvert the concentrate to wine.

This concentrate was brandy, the new taste of the connoisseurs, which the Dutch fostered in France. They came to La Rochelle for its salt trade, but being shrewd traders perceived the brandy preference in the cold northern countries, and being the domineers of sea trade had strong transportation facilities. Thus the local wine makers turned to distillation and within 60 yrs, around the turn of the sixteenth century brandy had largely replaced wine as a local product.

The French were not the pioneers of brandy making. Concentrated spirits of wine were used in Greece and Rome for antiseptic and anesthetic purposes. Spain and Italy made a kind of spirit very close to brandy as early as the 13th century. The French positioned their brandy as a communal drink thus differentiating it from its medicinal and appreciative identities.

The ingenuity of discovering Cognac was the work of Chevalier de la Croix Marion, who in the 17th century of distilling brandy twice that brought in it the irresistible flavors. Gradually in the 18th Century, Cognac Brandy and its reputation improved, which brought about the establishments of the grand Moguls of Cognac trade - Jean Martell came from Jersey in 1715, Richard Hennessey from Cork, Ireland in 1765 Thomas Hine from Dorset in 1775.

The golden era of the Cognac trade from 1750 AD onwards was marked between 1880-1890 AD with the phylloxera blight or the vine pestilence which ravaged masses and masses of vineyards.

The replanting and recreation of the vineyard changed Cognac slightly, but the reputed producing houses and the traditional art of distillation remains the same as in its hey day from 1750 - 1850.
The process of distillation forms the most important part of cognac making, and as if to symbolize a tribute to the discoveries of brandy and projecting a tryst of never deviating from the original taste which the pioneers thought of, the traditional pot-still - "alambac charentais" - unique to the cognac makers is still in use.

The Cognac birth-story begins in the vineyards of the Cognac region whose chalky soil and ideal climate are perfect for the cultivation of the "Folle Blanche" "Colombar" and "St. Emillion" white grape vines. These grapes would make very poor wine, low in alcohol and high in acidity. However, these two characteristics of the wine are ideal for distilling into Cognac.

The grape vineyards are divided into six distinct zones, defined by their varied climatic conditions and chalkiness of soil. The Zones start from "Champagnes" (hills) at the centre to the "Bois" (woodlands) at the perimeter. In terms of quality, "Grande-Champagne" zone comes topmost. Its soil is the chalkiest and its climate the most temperate, making the eventual produce the most mellow and delicate. Moving out wards we come to "Petite Champagne" whose wine is fractionally less subtle due to a slightly harder soil. (The word Champagne should not be confused with the Champagne sparkling wines from the Champagne region in France). Next comes the "Borderies", the "Fins Bois", "Bous Bois", and lastly the "Bois Ordinaires". Each of these last four has its own characteristics which plays its own part in the blending of may excellent cognacs.

The grapes are picked in the late autumn and go through four major transformations on their way becoming cognacs vinification, distillation, maturation and blending.

Vinification is gently pressing the grapes to avoid getting pectins and tannins in the wine which will coarsen the distilled spirit. The wine is fermented quickly and is now sent for distillation.

Cognac is double distilled in the pot still consisting of a brick furnace and a pure copper made boiler. The wine is turned to vapors by heat, condensed by cold, and is recollected as a liquid. Usually three batches of first distillations are needed to make up one final batch, which is divided into three parts: head, heart and tail; only the heart is selected.

Next comes maturation. The distilled wine is stored in casks made of special oak wood from the forests of Limousin for only this wood has the necessary size of grain and balance of tanin for perfect maturation. Here the cognac, now a child growing begins to develop its adolescent body color and aroma and loses some of its harshness.

By this time, the cognac has attained its bustling youth. Now comes the blending. Different crops of different ages and coloring or flavorings are added until the right mellow balance has been found. Sometimes a cognac may contain thirty different blends. Here the cellar Master's skill plays a very crucial role in creating specific cognac for the market.

Cognac-industry employees three distinct groups of peoples the vine growers and wine makers, the distillers and the blenders and the bottlers. Another group involved is the coopers who specialize in the cask-craft. Thousands of casks every year are needed for storing the wine and are expected to last upto forty or fifty years, making coopering a highly demanding and essential craft to the cognac industry.

The cognac-quality is strictly governed by The bureau national interprofessional du cognac that fixes the minimum age for cognac before it can be labelled. From April 1 of the year after the harvest, a cognac distilled in the winter months between October and the end of March is zero rated. The following April 1, it is rated one and so on upto the sixth year when it is rated five. After that everything is left to the honesty of the producers and the Bureau shrinks it's jurisdiction.

Different Cognac types vary according to the age of the various brandies that make them up. "Three Star" is three years old and is the standard Cognac sold in Britain and alone accounts for about 90 percent of the market. A "V.Q." and a "V.S.O.P." (very special Old Pale) contain brandies whose named "Extra" "X.O." "Napolean", "Grande Reserve" contain some very old brandies that can date back as 50 years or even more.

It is interesting that the letters on each Cognac label signifying its age stand for English and not for French words because of the traditional importance of the English Market.

The nearest rival to cognac is the historically old ARMAGNAC which traces itself back 200 years before Cognac, yet has always lived in the shadow of the great regent spirit. Cognac still outsells Armagnac by three bottles to one in France, owing to its scintillating flavor which is a direct derivation of the great geographical advantage which cognac enjoys over armagnac.

Thus at last, it remains to be seen whether cognac sustains its traditional excellence through and through.


- Rajiv Seth


Rajiv Seth became the first Indian in the year 1987 to receive a gold medal from wine and spirit education trust, London. Presently he is making continues efforts in educating the lab assistants of a number of wineries on procedures of micro vinification through his manuals.

In this day and age wine analysis is indispensable for the production of both large and small scale wineries. A good palate with the addition of wine analysis is an awesome duo. In good old days the only skill required to make good wine was a good palate but do not forget that during those days wineries expected to have a certain amount of ruined wine every year or so writes - Rajiv Seth.

Laboratory automation has come a long way from being in the exclusive domain of specialized analysis laboratories of large multi million case wineries to small boutique wineries, largely because the cost of such automated high-tech laboratory equipment have become more affordable if not reasonable in the recent times.

Auto analyzers or these high tech lab equipments are best at performing repetitive functions under a standardize program if functioning properly they can perform the 500th analysis as precisely as the first.

Some of the favorite pieces of analytical equipments in the winery laboratory may seem expensive, however these high-tech analyzers have found general acceptance with in the industry.

Large winery labs are the first adopters of the new technologies and higher end analytical equipments because probably they have a better budget to support such
infrastructural changes in the business. From here these technologies migrate to smaller wineries. Listed below are some of the favorite lab equipments of large and some medium size laboratories.

OenoFoss™
Instant quality control with OenoFoss™

The simple-to-use analyzer provides wine producers with key information within two minutes, helping them with decisions such as when to pick grapes, how to control fermentation or when to bottle.



Traditional analysis involves various items of analysis equipment and can take around 20 minutes to measure a single quality parameter. In contrast, OenoFoss™ measures main quality parameters of grape must, must under fermentation and wine within two minutes from a single drop of a single sample. Up to seven parameters are measured: sugar, pH, total acid, glucose/fructose, malic acid, ethanol, volatile acid and colour.

Unlimited testing at no extra cost

Unlimited tests on must and wine can be performed at no extra cost, building a wealth of objective information on which to base your decisions. c also saves costs on the use of chemical reagents involved in traditional analysis. The robust design ensures frequent economical use without maintenance and the ready-to-use calibrations guarantee reliable analysis results. With its compact size (189 × 154 × 321 mm) the OenoFoss takes little space. Two minutes spent using OenoFoss can quickly repay itself through consistent quality results in the years to come.








FOSS WineScan™ Auto

The WineScan Auto is the solution for the busy wine laboratory requiring fast, accurate analysis. Ready-made calibrations allow for the simultaneous analysis of major wine quality parameters.

Sample preparation is easy as no preheating or chemical pretreatment is required. Cost per sample is low as no expensive reagents are needed. The automatic fow system and zero setting function ensure reliable and consistent results.



The WineScan Auto analyses main product components such as Ethanol, pH, sugars, and organic acids in wine and must under fermentation. The wine samples in the calibrations represent red, white and rose wines, which gives you a reliable and robust calibration. The WineScan Auto has a FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) interferometer that scans the full infrared spectrum. Collection of data form the entire spectrum allows you to analyze many parameters. Analyzing new parameters is only a matter of calibration development.

FlAstar Wine Wine Analyser for
Free and Total SO2

A multi-channel flow injection analyzer for the automatic, simultaneous determination of Free and Total Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) in red and white wines and in juice. The complete FIAstar system, with a 120-position autosampler, offers un-attended analysis to maximize laboratory productivity.

Using Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) technology, the FIAstar offers an accurate and robust alternative to the manual, labour-intensive distillation and titration methods. Good laboratory practices are integrated into the SoFIA software with many quality assurance and control features.


Alcohol Analyzer for Wine
HI 83540 by Hanna

Until now, the determination of alcohol in wine required wine makers to invest in expensive gas chromatography or HPLC equipment, or to use alternate methods such as ebulliometry or hydrometry which are time consuming and can be extremely laborious.

The alcohol content is a critical parameter in the analysis of wine, representing the first and most important criteria for classifying the wine into taxable classes. From a qualitative point of view, alcohol concentration has an important role in the conservation of a wine over time. From a sensory point of view, alcohol content influences the power, warmth and sweetness of a wine. Lower alcoholic concentrations tend to taste sweeter. Else where in the world the alcohol content is also used to classify wines for taxation: Regional government regulations use alcohol % as a criteria to classify the wine as table wine or alcoholic beverage. The HI 83540 meter measures the alcohol content in wine simply accurately displaying the results directly in % v/v units.

Digital Brix Refractometer
HI 96811 from Hanna

The HI 96811 Digital Wine Refractometer is a rugged potable, water resistant device that benefits from HANNA’s years of experience as a manufacturer of analytical instruments.

The HI 96811 is an optical instrument that employs the measurement of refractive index to display the sugar content in grape samples. The measurement of refractive index is simple and quick. Samples are measured after a simple user calibration with deionized or distilled water. Within seconds the instrument measures the refractive index of the grape sample and converts it to % Brix concentration units. The HI 96811 digital refractometer eliminates the uncertainty associated with mechanical refractometers and is portable for measurements in the field.


Titratable Total Acidity
HI 84102 from Hanna

The HI 84102 is a low cost, easy to use, microprocessor-based automatic titrate. The HI 84102 has as simple and yet accurate peristaltic pump to ensure the best accuracy and repeatability. By performing pump calibration with the provided HANNA standards, instrument accuracy is assured.

This instrument is supplied with a preprogrammed analysis method designed for Total Titratable Acidity measurements in wine. The HI 84102 performs automatic analysis, all necessary calculations and assures to the user a simple and effective interface.

A number of other analytical tools and equipment have hit the market and all have contributed to the pleasure of making and analyzing wine and how these new technologies changes and shape up the future of our wine industry will be discovered only by time.

- Rajiv Seth



Rajiv Seth became the first Indian in the year 1987 to receive a gold medal from wine and spirit education trust, London. Presently he is making continuous efforts in educating the lab assistants of a number of wineries on procedures of vinification through his manuals. He also writes for Delwine.

...Since wine has such beneficial effects on the heart, on stabilizing blood pressure, possibly stopping loss of bone tissue, is replete with cancer-fighting elements, aids in digestion, and reduces stress, it is no surprise that wine is also connected to living longer.

Bordeaux wines may have been regarded as a health tonic for many centuries, and nothing proves it more than the high percentage of healthy octogenarians in the Medoc area of France - that is, Bordeaux. The number of octogenarians and even nonagenarians is much higher there than the national average. It is even a local custom in Bordeaux to present a woman with a bottle of red wine before she goes into labor to help ease the birth and also bless the baby with long life.

Here is my mantra for you: Red wine...red wine...red wine. Make a daily habit of drinking red wine with dinner for the rest of your long and healthy life.

Judy Beardsal
www.judybeardsall.com


Biography:
As America's preeminent Wine Consultant and internationally respected wine broker, Judy has forged a niche in the high stakes world of wine.

With over 20 years experience and a career that has taken her from the first woman manager of New York's premiere wine shop, Sherry-Lehman...To starting the most successful wine consulting business in the world and amassing the largest wine collections ever assembled on earth...To the creation of her very own wine at a vineyard in Tuscany.

Judy's specialty is creating investment portfolios and drinking cellars of the worlds finest and rarest wines for a clientele of discreet and discerning collectors.

As President and CEO of Beardsall and Associates, Judy oversees personalized service with extensive knowledge of the fine wine market and provides -- Strategic Buying Services, Portfolio and Cellar Planning and Management, Storage Arranged and Managed, State of the Art Wine Inventory and Tracking System, Market Trend and Investing Reports, International Trading Advisory.