The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about wine is most definitely not compressed air. In fact, it’s probably not second or third either. When wine comes to mind, we often think of social gatherings, dinner parties, gifts etc. However, I bet you didn’t realize that compressed air plays a critical role in the creation and processing of wine!
Only certain systems can make this process happen, oil free compressors, nitrogen generators and blowers play critical roles in this.
- Crushing and Pressing Grapes
Grape crushing is done using three parts, a grape crusher, compressed air, and a bladder. The grape crusher applies compressed air to one side of a bladder to crush the grapes and release the juice. Air is then pushed into the bladder to push the juice through the holes and strain it.
- Bottling
Compressed air is used to push wine into the bottles its sold in. This is where nitrogen comes in, to remove oxygen from the bottle and keep the wine as fresh as possible. This ensures that you and your friends can enjoy fresh and safe wine at your next gathering!
- Sparging
This is the act of applying nitrogen to the wine creating small bubbles and dissolving any oxygen left in the wine.
- Aeration
Until this point we’ve discussed removing oxygen from wine however, the process of aeration is when oxygen as actually added to the wine to let it soften prior to bottling. This is also where the oil free compressor is used to keep the wine clean.
- Labeling
Lastly comes labeling, the final step in the process is adhering the label to the bottle which is completed using compressed air.
So, the next time your enjoying wine at a holiday party, wine tour, or on a vacation just remember all the work a compressed air system did to create it!