WHAT ARE THE AIMS OF CLARIFICATION?

Wine is clarified to achieve brilliance, protein stability, a longer filter life, the removal of unwanted components, oxidation-reduction stability, organoleptic improvement, … while trying to respect the color, structure, and character of the original product.
Only recently have instruments become available to evaluate the interactions that adjuvants have in all these processes.

Studying the mechanisms of clarification and fining has led to the development of innovative materials selected via an evaluation of the surface charge, that leave the structure of the wine unaffected.

The table contains the values of the surface electrical charge and of the flow potential of some gelatins. On a practical level these evaluations have shown that if a gelatin clarifies well, it cannot be a good tannin remover, and vice versa, that if it removes tannins well, it is not a good fining agent. The two actions are inversely related. This is a clear illustration of the kind of interaction that adjuvants have with must and wine.

With research as the target, the characteristics of all conventional adjuvants from the enological industry were considered, including also those materials deemed ‘unconventional’.

The products marked with this mark are also subjected to an inspection of the surface electrical charge in the analyses intended for quality control.