A team from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture has returned from the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference (AWITC) in Sydney, with their research receiving awards and glowing feedback from industry.
The work ‘Microwave maceration of Pinot noir: phenolically equivalent, aromatically distinct”, presented by a young researcher at the TIA (Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture), Anna Carew, describe a unique process that uses microwave technology during the maceration stage, which has several potential benefits for the production process and the quality of the finished product.
“Initially, some winemakers expressed concern at the prospect of heating grape must,” said Anna.
“Heating goes against a lot of current industry practice but the approach that we’ve developed is quite gentle, and microwave is a penetrating form of heat that loosens up the grape membranes and allows us to more effectively coax out the colour and tannin compounds we need for truly sumptuous Pinot Noir.”
The technique is already receiving strong interest from large wineries and winery equipment manufacturers.
An article on the subject is in press on the ‘Australian and New Zealand Grapegrower and Winemaker Magazine
