Adjust the Level of Alcohol in Your Wine with Reverse Osmosis

In the Reverse Osmosis (RO) process, wine is pumped at a high pressure past a semi-permeable membrane. The wine is separated into two streams, the permeate being small molecules (water, ethanol), and the retentate being the higher molecular weight components of the wine.

The separated permeate is collected separately, resulting in a concentrated wine. If reducing alcohol, the water component in then replaced in the wine, resulting in the original wine with reduced alcohol. If concentrating, the permeate is not replaced, and may be processed for another use.

Our customers use our service to :

  1. Reduce Alcohol
  2. Concentrate Wines
  3. Concentrate Juices
  4. Increase Alcohol

RO Unit 1& 2 – Reverse Osmosis System – 16 module unit

RO Unit 3 & 4 – Reverse Osmosis System – 6 module unit

Wine making can be affected by ripening difficulties and late season rain one year, and high brix the next. In order to obtain wines with maximum flavor profiles, extended hang time must be tolerated, but may lead to high alcohol, VA or other issues.

Reverse Osmosis utilizes a semi-permeable membrane to separate from wine the very small compounds, typically water and ethanol, into the ╲permeate╡ stream. This water/alcohol stream is then further processed through a distillation column, where it is separated into an alcohol distillate and pure water. The desired stream is then added back into the wine. The resulting wine has more highly concentrated flavor component, while the adverse components are removed from the wine.

Reverse Osmosis can also be used to remove rain water from juice, to remove Brettanomyces, and to remove smoke taint.

The use of reverse osmosis allows you to adjust your alcohol to maximize flavor, or to remove undesirable components and restore flavor to your wine. This allows your winery to produce better quality, increase revenue, and increase your brand value.

When using our reverse osmosis services, we also recommend you consider using our Crossflow MF filter service prior to utilizing the RO. These units require low turbidity wine for optimum flows. Reverse osmosis is not a filtration, so any acetobactor or bacteria that may have caused wine issues will not be removed by RO. We recommend filtering first with sterile, or near sterile filtration.

Ask us how we can help you produce a better quality wine and increase your brand value today.