Edenvale’s alcohol remove wines are produced using to the most sophisticated and efficient methods to extract alcohol.The use of selected wines and the special extraction of alcohol guarantee’s the highest quality of products.
Spinning Cone Column (SCC) is a highly efficient counter-current liquid-gas contact device.The SCC is unique in its use of gentle mechanical forces to enhance inter-phase contact. This allows efficient and rapid separation of volatile compounds from their host material. The unique design of the SCC enables it to process clear liquids and viscous products containing high levels of suspended solids. The Spinning Cone Column is widely used as an aroma recovery or flavour management device.
Wine is fed into the top of the spinning cone column (a vertical cylinder roughly 40" in diameter and 13' in height) and flows down over a series of alternating stationary and rotary metal cones. Centrifugal force transforms the wine into a thin liquid film, which is contacted by ascending nitrogen gas fed into the bottom of the cone.
The nitrogen acts as a carrier to extract the volatilized aroma and flavor compounds from the wine. These essences are then condensed, separated and safeguarded while the liquid is run through the cone again, at slightly higher temperatures, to remove the alcohol. Then they are reintroduced to the dealcoholized wine and blended with unfermented varietal grape juice to create a beverage with less than 0.3% alcohol by volume.
The spinning cone process is superior to other alcohol-removal systems, such as steam distillation and reverse osmosis (also known as membrane filtration) for two reasons. First, it protects the delicate aroma and flavor essences by removing them, at relatively low temperatures, prior to alcohol removal. Both steam distillation and reverse osmosis are single-stage systems in which wine aromas and flavors are degraded through exposure to either the heat or high pressures employed to remove the alcohol. Second, the spinning cone, unlike reverse osmosis, does not concentrate the residual base liquid to the extent that it must be re-diluted with water.
The over-riding philosophy for the production of the Edenvale range of alcohol removed wines is that the beverages starts as a naturally fermented wine, and that the entire volume of the beverages is made up of products derived wholly from the specific varietal grape juice. Under the general principles of wine making and Australian Wine Law, water cannot be added to wine and we apply the same winemaking principal in the production of Edenvale.