2. Packing and labelling.

Question 1

What are the 3 shelf life principles?

Answer 1

1. Unit size - the smaller, the faster the change.
2. Filling process.
3. Oxygen permeability.

Question 2

Packaging options for wine.

Answer 2

1. Glass bottles.
2. Measuring container bottles (MBC).
3. Plastic bottles.
4. Aluminium cans.
5. Bag-in-box (BIB).
6. Kegs
7. Cardboard bricks.

Question 3

Advantages and disadvantages of glass bottles.

Answer 3

Advantages.

1. Inert.
2. No taints.
3. Impermeable to gases.
4. Different shapes, size, colours.

Disadvantages.

1. Fragile.
2. Heavy.
3. Transparent to UV - problem in supermarkets close to fluorescent lights).

Question 4

How glass is sold?

Answer 4

Through glasswork or glass brokers.

In sterilised pallets - no contamination (even cardboard layer pads are in plastic to avoid fibre contact).

The bottles are ready to be used, cleaning them with water would only augment contamination.

Question 5

Main problem of glass bottles before bottling.

Answer 5

If stored for too long and not kept in a dry place they will get a problem of “weatherisation”.

Sodium in the glass will react with the CO2 in the atmosphere developing carbonate crystals making the bottles unusable.

Question 6

How glass bottles are packed?

Answer 6

Cardboard or wooden boxes.

1. 6 bottles/4.5 lt.
2. 12 bottles/9 lt.

Question 7

What are measuring container bottles?

Answer 7

Bottles where the filler measures the level of liquids in the neck by measuring the distance from top of the bottle to the level of wine on a given number of bottles.

Before for every filled a bottle was emptied in a measure cylinder to check.

Question 8

Are MCB mandatory?

Answer 8

No.

Constant or ullage levels can have sufficient accuracy without and independent measuring instrument.

Question 9

How can you double check if MBC is correct and why should you do it?

Answer 9

Calculate bottle volume through density.

Weight the bottle empty, then with wine in it. The weight difference can be calculated into volume through density.

Producers are doing it to check if bottle producers are doing a good job or not.

Question 10

Two main types of plastic bottles.

Answer 10

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - mainly used in France, cheap but oxygen and gases can easily come in resulting in short shelf life.

PET (polyethylene terphthalate) - mostly for soft drinks and beer, in wine is for quarter size (18.7cl) bottles for airlines.

Both are recyclable and lightweight.

Question 11

Why PET is better than PVC?

Answer 11

1. Can be shaped in order to fit trays.
2. Better shelf life (3 to 6 months).
3. New oxygen barriers blended in the bottle wall or glass liners are available (extend shelf life even further).

Question 12

Advantages and disadvantages of aluminium cans.

Answer 12

Advantages.

1. Different sizes (18.7, 23, 37.5 cl).
2. Strong.
3. Lightweight.
4. Impermeable (both light and gases).
5. Easily filled - can easily avoid air or microorganisms contamination.
6. Can support high levels of CO2.
7. Lower SO2 use.
8. 9 months shelf life.

Disadvantages.

1. Acids in wine attack aluminium reducing SO2 to hydrogen sulfide - bad egg smell. A bronze can or a plastic liner could be used increasing cost.
2. Higher end of the wine market doesn’t like cans.

Question 13

Advantages and disadvantages of Bag in Box (BIB) wines.

Answer 13

Advantages.

1. Different sizes (2 to 20 lt).
2. Useful for pubs and small restaurants as by the glass.
3. Minimum deterioration.

Disadvantages.

1. Expensive packaging.
2. Flavour scalping - aromas can go into plastic.
3. The shelf life depends not on the wine drawn off but on the filled pack - needs to be freshly packed and it will last 9 months.

Question 14

How BIB was invented?

Answer 14

In 1965 in Australia by Thomas Angove. First implemented in 67 by Penfolds.

There was a high availability of good quality wines at low prices with no wine taxes. Also Australia had many refrigerators where store the boxes.

Question 15

Is wine in BIB selling well?

Answer 15

Australia - 25% light wine market (was 53%).
Sweden - 55%.
UK - 12%.

Globally BIB represents the 2% of all wines sold in the world.

Question 16

BIB is a complex process. What difficult parts of quality control are functioning to its design?

Answer 16

1. Bag choice - needs to be flexible, function as oxygen barrier, and support hydraulic forces of the liquid moving while transport.
2. Filling - if the bag is not supported a large air bubble could get in destroying shelf life.
3. Tap - must allow wine to flow out quickly, not leak, must not allow oxygen.
4. Microbiological control - no yeasts or bacteria as if oxygen gets in they will multiply.
5. Packing - high level of SO2, it will naturally fall down by the time it hits the shelves.

Question 17

What material can be used for BIB bags?

Answer 17

1. Two outer layers of high density polyethylene (HDPE) with a polyester aluminium-coated film oxygen barrier. Great protection but the membrane can crack.
2. Transparent bags of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a plastic that prevents oxygen passage. Sensitive to water vapour, it has a weaker initial barrier.

You need to choose between the risk of flax cracking or poorer oxygen barrier.

Question 18

Best alternative to BIB.

Answer 18

Kegs.

Single-use plastic or stainless steel. They can be refilled.

Question 19

Advantages and disadvantages of tetra/cardboard brick.

Answer 19

Advantages.

1. Low cost.
2. Oxygen barrier.
3. Good shelf life.
4. Only aseptic container - it is sterilised while being packed.

Disadvantages.

1. Bad image for consumers.

Question 20

How wine in tetra brick is packed?

Answer 20

The wine is not put into the package but the package is formed around the wine.

A laminate built with polythene, cardboard and aluminum foil (as oxygen protector) is delivered on a large reel fed into a filling machine. The wine is piped into a tube that then is sealed and cut into portions that are squeezed in rectangular shapes.

Question 21

What is the main concern on carbon footprint in wine packaging?

Answer 21

1. Weight of the packaging.
2. Energy production used to create the packaging.
3. Recyclability.

Question 22

What are the best packaging in the case of carbon footprint?

Answer 22

Kegs and PET bottles - medium weight and high reusability/recyclability.

Bottles are recyclable but they have a high weight (light weight bottles could be an option going from 500g to 300g).

BIB and Tetrabrick are low weight but low reusability.

Question 23

Closure main goals and considerations.

Answer 23

Goals.

1. Keeps liquid in.
2. Keeps oxygen out.

Considerations.

1. Cost - usually matches wine quality..
2. Neutrality.
3. Ease of application.
4. Material.
5. Tamper proof.

Question 24

Main closures.

Answer 24

1. Natural cork.
2. Technical cork.
3. Synthetic closures.
4. Screwcaps.
5. Glass stopper.

Question 25

Advantages of using natural cork.

Answer 25

1. Cheap. 2. Readily available. 3. Comes from a renewable source. 4. Biodegradable. 5. Good oxygen barrier. 6. Elastic property. 7. Anti-slippery.

Question 26

How cork quality went down?

Answer 26

In 1960 wine sales increased. 1. As more cork was required producers started to cut close to the ground and lowered procedure standards. 2. Large producers were cutting costs using lower grade and shorter length corks. TCA problems increased.

Question 27

How the cork industry reacted on increased levels of TCA?

Answer 27

It was a slow reply. 1. Quercus project. 2. Code of Good Manufacturing Practices by European Cork Federation (1996). Solutions include: 1. Careful harvesting. 2. Storage off ground. 3. Peroxide process (instead of chlorine) as precursor eliminator of TCA. 4. Testing.

Question 28

How TCA is formed.

Answer 28

A reaction between a penicillium mould in the cork and the chlorine sterilisation process. Trichloroanisole (TCA) is then formed.

Question 29

What happens to left over corks?

Answer 29

They are usually sent back to the supplier or stored in a dry and cold place. If they get dehydrated they will get less elastic and not suitable for bottling.

Question 30

Four main types of technical cork.

Answer 30

1. Colmated cork. 2. Agglomerate cork. 3. One plus one. 4. DIAM.

Question 31

What is a colmated cork?

Answer 31

Simple piece of cork coated with a mixture of cork dust and latex - fills the cracks and crevices of cork improving appearance and performance. Also inexpensive.

Question 32

What is an agglomerate cork and what is its main problem?

Answer 32

Cork granules are stuck together with resin glue. Has a short shelf life - resin disintegrate after a few month leaving the granules in the wine.

Question 33

What is a one-plus-one cork?

Answer 33

Evolution of the agglomerate principle. An agglomerate cork is bonded on each end by two natural cork disks - so the wine is in contact only with natural cork section. Inexpensive and useful in sparkling wines.

Question 34

How the Diam process works.

Answer 34

1. A natural cork is ground into small particles. 2. Elastic fraction (suberin) is retained while the woody particles (lignins) are rejected. 3. Diamant process starts - elastic fractions are washed with supercritical CO2 (pressure + temperature that washes like a liquid but penetrates like a gas) removing residual TCA (same as decaffeinated coffee). 4. Particles are mixed with a special plastic polymer and food grade glue, and compressed and heated.

Question 35

Why Diam is sold by one company only?

Answer 35

Because Oeneo owns the the copyright on the process. Competitors have recently used variations on the Diamant process like using steam, pressure and adding supercritical CO2 to other processes.

Question 36

Why synthetic closure were badly seen?

Answer 36

1. Early versions were difficult to apply and corking machines were damaged. 2. Claims of chemical plastic in the wine - the plastic used here is surgical (same used for food products) so there's no residual in wine.

Question 37

Two main types of synthetic closures. What they are and main producers.

Answer 37

1. Moulded - domed ends with mould marks (SupremeCorq). 2. Extruded - plastic pipe filled with foam (Nomacorc). In itself is not a pointless product - the cork ceremony of opening the bottle is intact and TCA is not present.

Question 38

Advantages and disadvantages of synthetic closures.

Answer 38

Advantages. 1. Elastic. 2. Easier to put and remove. Disadvantages. 1. Weak oxygen barrier - only for short shelf life wines. 2. Flavour scalping - flavours are absorbed into the cork from the wine. Effect is small but still important.

Question 39

How flavour scalping works?

Answer 39

Extruded closures are hydrophobic - they don't like being in water - they prefer oil. Water don't wet wet, it pass through so compounds are going into the closure. Smell a synthetic cork and you can pick up a strong wine aroma.

Question 40

Advantages and disadvantages of screwcaps.

Answer 40

Advantages. 1. No taint. 2. Easy opening. 3. No quality variation. 4. Best oxygen barrier. 5. 3 different wads/seals to emulate cork oxygen release (original wad with tin layer for no oxygen, plus 2 grades of saranex, a polythene plastic) that leaks oxygen). Disadvantages. 1. Still seen as cheap in certain markets. 2. Problems of damage in the screwcap because of soft material (it is like that in order to be inserted in the screw thread bottles). 3. Hydrogen sulfide risk (reductive taint) - need correct SO2 monitoring.

Question 41

What is a glass stopper (Vinolok) ?

Answer 41

Is a glass stopper with a ring of PVC between stopper and surface of the neck bottle. It also goes through fire polishing to minimse the risk of chipping during bottling.

Question 42

Advantages and disadvantages of glass stoppers.

Answer 42

Advantages. 1. Low oxygen ingress. 2. No TCA. Disadvantages. 1. High cost.

Question 43

How can you protect the cork from drying out?

Answer 43

1. Capsules - can be branded, aid to monitor tampering and excise tax proof in France. 2. Wax - also good for marketing.

Question 44

Material of capsules.

Answer 44

1. Lead foil - made with toxic lead salts- can kill cork weevils but might be dangerous for consumers. 2. Pure tin - expensive, better looking, malleable and moulded to the neck with a machine called spinner, non toxic. 3. Tin-lead - lead sandwiched between two layers, still not highly effective in reducing toxicity as wine could get infected easily, banned in 1993 EU. 4. Aluminium - cheap, needs careful application, easy creases. 5. PVC - mostly used, many colour and finishes, PVC is stretched in one direction and after applying passes through a heat tunnel where the plastic softens and fits the bottle. 6. Polylaminated -sandwich of aluminium and LDPE (low density polythene).

Question 45

Labels types.

Answer 45

1. Dry label - applied with glue (especially used on sparkling as application happens on cold bottles). 2. Self adhesive - all shapes and sizes, requires smaller labeling machine and less expensive.

Question 46

Why wine is regulated?

Answer 46

1. Wine is food - needs to comply with food safety regulation. 2. GI/Varietals on label - a wine needs to state truths about those two things. 3. Techniques, ingredients and processive aids are regulated to protect wine's authenticity.

Question 47

EU 2 main levels of legislations.

Answer 47

1. Directives - laws that each country adapts for itself. 2. Regulations - mandatory for all EU countries.

Question 48

Two main organ controls in the USA.

Answer 48

1. TTB (Tobacco Trade Bureau - regulates alcohol, winemaking practices, AVA areas. 2. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) -regulates food hazards, and wine manufacturing.

Question 49

Is food safety necessary for wine> What is regulated?

Answer 49

Not really, alcohol and low pH protect from pathogenic microorganisms. The main problem with wine is handling - packaging/equipment residue or chemical contamination (pesticides residue, sanitation chemicals). 1. GMP (Good manufacturing practices). 2. Traceability.

Question 50

What is GMP and who regulates it?

Answer 50

Outline of winemaking processes standard operating procedures with hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) methodologies and food safety issues (CCP). EU - 1990 Food Safety Act, 1195 Food Safety (General Food Hygiene). Named as "due diligence". USA - 2002 Bioterrorism Act, 2011 FSMA. FDA also checks HACCP.

Question 51

What is traceability? Who controls it?

Answer 51

Ability to understand provenance and quantities of all ingredients and processing aids used in the manufacturing process. The most complex system works also in batches (what batch of grapes are in this wine?). EU - 178/2002 Principles and requirements of Food Law Article 18 as traceability is established at every stage of production. EU Directive 1989/396 requires package batch to be identified. Four digit system. USA - Bioterrorism Act needs tracking or lot numbers. FDA needs files, names and contacts of all suppliers.

Question 52

What is the main goal of a label and what is regulated on it?

Answer 52

Guaranteeing that everything written on it is real. 1. Variety. 2. GI. 3. Vintage. 4. Sweetness Level. 5. Sustainability certificate. Mandatory: 6. Alcohol. 7. Volume. 8. Sulfite warning. 8. Allergen warning. 9. Health and alcohol warning. 10. Name of packer/importer. There are laws on font sizes and positioning.

Question 53

What is covered in the Common Organization of the Market of Wine EU law?

Answer 53

1. Support measures. 2. Regulatory measures including labelling rules. 3. Trade with third countries. 4. Production potential. 5. General provisions. Follows PDO and PGI. Table wine can include vintage and variety.

Question 54

What needs to be on the label as allergens?

Answer 54

EU. 1.2mm font size. 1. Contains sulphites - if more than 10m/L (literally all wines). 2. If in contact with milk or egg product if residue excess 0.25mg/L USA. Sulphites only. TTB/FDA looking to expand on milk, egg, fish, crustaceans, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts and soybean.

Question 55

Sizes permission - differences between old British system and new EU laws.

Answer 55

In the British system all the bottles need to have the minimum quantity. In the EU average system the batch is regarded as units so the level can change between singular bottles but the total needs to be the one directed by law. For a 750ml bottle there's a tolerable negative error of 15mL average. Errors should be around twice the TNE which is then 30mL. The responsibility of the filling lies in the authority of the packing area (in Europe is marked sometimes with an "e" on the label).

Question 56

Why ingredient labelling could be exempted in wine?

Answer 56

1. Few ingredients and additives are present, with tight control use. 2. Processing aids are filtered, there's little or no residue. 3. Ingredients and aids are blended many times, and traceability is harder than any other product. 4. No market advantage in changing the system.

Question 57

What wines are exempt from ingredients lists in the USA?

Answer 57

Wines under 7% alcohol.

Question 58

Are winemaking practices controlled by law? Where are these laws mostly used today?

Answer 58

Yes, in both EU and USA. Especially predominant in Organic wine laws. Sulphites level are 100mg/L for whites and 150mg/L for reds in EU while in the USA limit is 0 unless only grapes are concerned under "made from organic grapes" where 100mg/L can be added.