Applications for Winemaking

Ultrasound is used particularly for continuous treatment in maceration of grapes in order to reduce or eliminate certain traditional techniques.
In particular, compared with current winemaking systems, the maceration time of white and red grapes is shortened with a consequent reduction of vinification costs.
In red grapes, average maceration time is shortened by 2-5 days, depending on the maturity of the grapes whereas in white grapes maceration time could be reduced from 10-15 hours to 2-5 hours, or even be eliminated by pressing the treated product directly with ultrasound.
Innovation will also have an impact on the adjuvants and chemical additives that are normally used in vinification because the use of SO₂ and certain exogenous enzymes will be reduced or at least optimized. The values of the sulphur dioxide that is normally used (50-60 ppm) could be reduced to 30 ppm or even eliminated.
The pectolytic enzyme dosage would fall from 1-3 g/hl to 0.5 g/hl or even zero.
Another innovative aspect relates to a system that is able to operate indifferently on pressed white and red grapes on mark and on wine, so it is equipment that is completely usable in the different vinification steps, from pressing grapes to refining wine. In this operating situation, a “reactor” can be made that is able to treat all different types of vinification product.