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Filtration: The Invisible Imperative in Fine Wine

Problem: Without a careful double-filtering process, a series of bacteria can negatively affect the quality, flavor, character, and aroma of the bottled wine.

Solution: Donaldson's LifeTec™ filter elements have 20% more media than comparable filters and have a sturdy triangular design to withstand twisting and to stay intact under high flow rates.

Wineries Advised to Use Two-Step Process

In the art of winemaking, it’s not only what’s in the bottle that matters. It’s what isn’t. Winemaking consultants say the wrong micro-organisms can be disastrous if they sneak into final bottling. For example, acetobacter will convert wine to vinegar, and any residual yeast that remains after fermentation can cause re-fermentation in wines with residual sugar, producing unintended carbonation.

“If a volume of wine has any residual sugar—and you’re not very diligent about removing all of the bacteria, and more importantly, the yeast cells—the wine can re-ferment in the bottle,” says Drew Horton, Enology Specialist at the University of Minnesota, and a consultant to wineries across the Upper Midwest. “It’s a disaster because it causes the wine to get bubbly or cloudy, or the cork pushes up, or in the worst scenario, the bottles start exploding in the bottle shop.”

Horton strongly recommends vintners learn proper filtration techniques. Unless a wine contains no residual sugar and the winery is absolutely sterile, he advocates a double-filtering process. The wineries that don’t conduct this practice, he says, are very rare.

“If a wine label says it’s unfiltered, the winery is guaranteeing they’re using the best clean fruit, their processing standards are extremely high, there’s no residual sugar in the wine, and most of the malic acid has been converted to lactic acid,” says Horton. “Then the winemaker may choose to bottle the wine without any filtration.”

Established wineries are veterans in filtering. But in regions where the industry is younger, the learning curve for small operators with less experience can be steep. Horton says many vintners use only “nominal” filtering, and are unaware of the need for the second “absolute” step.

“If the wine is not properly prepared and filtered when it goes into the bottle,” he says, “there are a series of bacteria that can negatively affect the quality, the flavor, the character, the aroma of the bottled wine.”

Dry or off-dry white varietals of most respected wineries have less than two percent residual sugar— many have less than one percent, the industry’s definition of “dry.” By contrast, wines with three to five percent residual sugar are common in many northern states with large rural populations, where people tend to prefer sweeter wines, and where vintners need to compensate for high acid in shortseason grapes. 

"That's why wineries tend to be sticklers about filtration."

The residual sugar is a very important blend component, but any yeast that lingers after it’s done its job will have a chance of interacting with the product even after six or nine months after bottling.

That’s why wineries need to be sticklers about filtration. Periodically throughout the production year—after the wine has been oak-aged and cold stabilized—many vintners practice the two-step method Horton recommends. First, they batchfilter the wine through a nominal “depth” filter to remove 95 to 98 percent of all yeast and other target organisms, which range between 0.6 and 0.8 microns in size. Then, if they add balancing sugar, they batchfilter the wine once more through a final absolute “membrane” filter. Its pores are also 0.45 micron, but its thin, PES (polyethersulfone) membrane captures the last two to five percent of any remaining contaminant that a nominal filter sheet can miss.

Supporting Process and Product Integrity for Compressed Air & Process Solutions in the Food & Beverage Industry

Event Type: Webinar

Event Date: 04/02/2025

Location: Online

Join us for our exclusive LIVE webinar! Juergen is looking forward to sharing with you best practices for food and beverage manufacturers to optimize filtration performance while ensuring food safety. 

Explore why compressed air and process filtration are key to maintaining process and product integrity in food and beverage production. 

Follow the link below to secure your spot today!

Register here.  

Enhance Your Wine Quality with Donaldson at Unified - Booth 2032

Donaldson will be at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, CA, from January 28-30!

Join us at Booth 2032 to discover how our filtration solutions can help you enhance wine quality and optimize operations.

Don’t miss the chance to connect with our specialists! See you there!
https://ow.ly/bwsw50UF6Or

 

Unlock Operational Efficiencies in Beverage Manufacturing

Registrations are now open for our upcoming webinar ‘Unlock Operational Efficiencies in Beverage Manufacturing’. Our speakers are excited to share their combined expertise on how to optimize your filtration process for beverages.

Register now: https://ow.ly/fJ8A30sA6vg


Donaldson Named One of the Best Companies to Work for by U.S. News & World Report

Donaldson is proud to share that we have been named one of the Best Companies to Work For by U.S. News & World Report. This industry recognition reflects our commitment to quality of pay, work-life balance and opportunities for professional development and advancement.

Donaldson continuously evolves to meet our changing world’s filtration needs. We make cool things. And we look for the best people to help us succeed, offering opportunities to learn, effect change, and make meaningful contributions at work and in our communities.

Donaldson Company. Innovation + Collaboration that matters. Learn more: https://ow.ly/C12F50PXSAk

 

Donaldson Filtration Careers

Visit Donaldson’s Booth (#503) at the WIN Expo.

We are excited to be joining the WIN Expo event again this year! Join Donaldson at the Wine Industry Network Expo, Booth #503 to see how our extensive product portfolio makes us a strong partner that can help wineries and mobile bottlers protect and maintain your product integrity. Thursday, December 1, 2022 (9:00am — 4:00pm)

Donaldson Company Is Proud to be a Member of WIN

We are Donaldson.

Donaldson helps solve some of the world’s most complex filtration challenges. We are one of the largest global providers of unique filtration technologies and high-quality filters and parts. Wine processors face growing regulations, increasing production demands, and limited resources. To navigate these demands, processors and process engineers are turning to knowledgeable specialists. Donaldson's extensive product portfolio makes us a strong partner that can help wineries and distributors maintain process integrity and quality of your wine.

Key to our success, our 13,000+ employees support customers at sales, manufacturing, and distribution centers from over 140 locations on six continents. The filtration market continues to grow. Customers' needs for filtration solutions continue to evolve. To learn more about Donaldson's wine filtration solutions Click Here!

About

We are Donaldson.

Donaldson helps solve some of the world’s most complex filtration challenges. We are one of the largest global providers of unique filtration technologies and high-quality filters and parts. Wine processors face growing regulations, increasing production demands, and limited resources. To navigate these demands, processors and process engineers are turning to knowledgeable specialists. Donaldson's extensive product portfolio makes us a strong partner that can help wineries and distributors maintain process integrity and quality of your wine.

Key to our success, our 13,000+ employees support customers at sales, manufacturing, and distribution centers from over 140 locations on six continents. The filtration market continues to grow. Customers' needs for filtration solutions continue to evolve.

Contact

Contact List

Title Name Email Phone Extension
Sector Specialist Katherine Marchetti katherine.marchetti@donaldson.com 9527034613
Northwest Territory Sales Randy Bauman randy.bauman@donaldson.com 509-592-3820
Central Pacific Territory Sales Daniel Johnson daniel.johnson2@donaldson.com 916-542-5465
Northeast Territory Sales Craig Fogarty craig.fogarty@donaldson.com 3392162735
South Central Territory Sales Mike Bauman mike.bauman@donaldson.com 501-326-5585
Great Lakes West Territory Sales Alex Alders alexander.alders@donaldson.com 612-214-1018

Location List

Locations Address State Country Zip Code
Donaldson Corporation 1400 West 94th Street, Bloomington Minnesota United States of America 55431

List of Locations