GB2330761A

GB2330761A - Treatment of wine with argon

Info

Publication number: GB2330761A
Application number: GB9823585A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David John Humphreys; Kevin Christopher Spencer
Original assignee: Safeway Stores Inc
Current assignee: Safeway Inc
Priority date: 1997-10-29
Filing date: 1998-10-29
Publication date: 1999-05-05
Also published as: GB9823585D0; GB9722747D0

Abstract

A method of treating wine comprises sparging the wine with an argon rich gas. The argon rich gas is preferably 100% argon, but may further comprise other noble gases, carbon dioxide or nitrogen. The wine is preferably treated in a bulk container 50 by bubbling the argon rich gas through the wine from a sparger 54, as the wine is being fed into the bulk container 50. From the bulk container 50, the wine is preferably dispensed, via pipe 64 and valve 62, into a plurality of gas impermeable containers 24, which are preferably bag-in-box type containers. The wine may have further argon rich gas bubbled through it on exiting the bulk container, via sparger 66. The gas impermeable containers 24 may be flushed with an argon rich gas prior to filling and/or further argon rich gas may be used to displace air from the headspace above the surface of the wine.

Description

DESCRIPTION PRESERVATION AND/OR FLAVOUR ENHANCEMENT OFWINE The present invention relates to the preservation and/or flavour enhancement of wine.

The development of the taste and bouquet of wine is a complicated subject involving complex chemical and biochemical reactions. Some of these reactions can contribute greatly to the flavour and/or aroma of the wine whereas others can have an adverse effect.

The length of time for which a wine can be stored prior to drinking also varies in dependence upon the chemical composition of the wine and is reliant on factors such as alcohol content, tannin content and the like. As a result, some wines, and in particular most white wines of typical alcohol content, are best drunk relatively young, namely after a relatively few years' storage. Other wines, notably red wines having a high tannin content, such as wines from the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions, do not develop their best flavour for many more years.

It would therefore be of considerable advantage if those wines which must currently be drunk relatively young could be treated to retain their drinkability for a longer time, without too much deterioration of flavour, and it would be desirable for those wines which take a longer time to mature to be at their best somewhat earlier. In both cases, it would also be desirable for the wine to be storable in optimum drinking condition for a longer period of time.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invent ion, a method of treating wine comprises sparging the wine with an argon-rich gas.

It has been found, surprisingly, that this improves the taste of many wines and prolongs the time for which many wines remain in good drinking condition. Moreover, it is believed that the present invention may also encourage some wines to mature more quickly, making them available for drinking much earlier.

The present invention is particularly (but not exclusively) applicable to wines sold in wine boxes?.

In fact, the box is merely an outer robust container which encloses and protects an inner flexible metallised plastic bag having a valve projecting through the box to allow dispensing of the wine from the bag. The quality of such wines has often been criticised and it is thought that one reason for the perceived lack of quality is the fact that the wine is not stored in the conventional manner, in a glass bottle with a cork stopper. It has been found surprisingly, that the present invention markedly improves the taste of wines dispensed from "bag in box" containers.

One of the advantages of the "bag in box" dispensers from a consumer's point of view is that it is possible to dispense the required amount of wine without having to open a bottle whose contents must be drunk within a relatively short period of time (normally 2 or 3 days) to remain drinkable. Clearly, any increase in the time for which wine stored in a "bag in box" arrangement will be appreciated by the consumer.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a process for packaging wine comprising treating the wine in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention and packaging the sparged wine in a substantially gas - impermeable container.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, the headspace in a "bag in box" container for wine comprises an argon-rich atmosphere.

Although some improvement in the quality of the taste is noticed for some wines using this method, the primary advantage is the reduction in oxidation and therefore the prolongation of storage life which is achieved.

The argon-rich atmosphere may be achieved by injecting an argon-rich gas into the bag prior to, or after, filling of the bag with wine or may result from the gases given off from the wine into the headspace if the wine is preserved in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention.

The reference to "argon-rich" includes mixtures of argon with other gases such as other noble gases, nitrogen, carbon dioxide etc.

By way of example only, specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of the preservation of wine in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the preservation of the preservation of wine in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1, in order to package "bag in box" wines, the wine is first of all normally stored in a bulk container 10. In accordance with the present invention, the wine is sparged with an argon-rich gas (preferably 100W argon) by bubbling the gas through the wine via a sparger (e.g. a 2 micron pore size sintered metal sparging element 12), the inlet pipe 11 to which passes sealingly through a lid 14 until the wine is substantially saturated with the sparging gas. It should be noted that the bulk container 10 should be sealed with the lid 14 which is provided with a one way exhaust valve 16 to allow the egress of air displaced from the wine by the sparging gas and from the headspace 18 above the upper surface of the wine (although good results can be obtained by omitting the valve 16 and allowing egress of air displaced from the wine via an aperture in the lid whose size can be chosen to determined the rate of egress).

The treated wine is then normally fed to a second bulk container 20 which has a controlled outlet valve 22 which is arranged to fill empty, evacuated metallised plastic bags 24 on a continuous filling line with a predetermined quantity of treated wine.

In the particular embodiment illustrated, it will also be noted that an argon-rich atmosphere is injected into each bag prior to filling with wine via a lance 26 which is inserted into a filling aperture 28 of the bag.

The lance 26 is withdrawn and the valve 22 then charges each bag with a predetermined quantity of wine. In the particular embodiment illustrated, a dispensing valve 30 is then secured at a valve attachment station 32 and at a further packing station 34 the bag, complete with its valve is packed in a protective cardboard outer casing 36. The "bag in box" is then taken for further packing.

It should also be observed that the bulk container 22 has an inlet 40 connected to a source 42 of argbn-rich gas, whereby dispensing of the wine within the container 20 is permitted without the ingress of air into the headspace above the wine.

As an alternative, or an addition, to the above described process, argon-rich gas may be injected into a bag 24 to displace air from the headspace above the upper surface of the wine, as shown in dotted lines at 44.

A second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 2. The wine is firstly stored in a bulk container 50 which may, for example, be a static vat or a tanker for transporting the wine. The wine is fed to the container 50 via an input pipe 52 and a sparger 54 (e.g. a 2 micron pore size sintered metal sparging element) is located in the input pipe adjacent to where the pipe enters the bulk container 50. In this way, the wine is treated by the sparging gas as the wine enters the bulk container 50 and it has been found that this uses considerably less sparging gas than known methods.

As for the first embodiments the sparging gas is an argon-rich gas (preferably 100% argon).

Preferably, the sparger is only operated as wine is being fed into the bulk container 50 and a sparging rate of, for example, 20 litres of sparging gas per minute causes the wine to be substantially saturated with sparing gas. Optionally, when wine is not being fed into the bulk container 50, the sparger can be arranged to discharge a much lower amount, for example 0.2 litres per minute, to keep the wine substantially saturated with sparging gas.

The bulk container is substantially sealed, but optionally a one-way exhaust valve 56 may be located on an upper cover 58 of the container 50 to allow gases (such as oxygen and carbon dioxide) which have been displaced out of solution and into the headspace 60 above the wine to escape from the container.

The discharge of wine from the bulk container 50 is controlled by means of a valve 62 in an outlet pipe 64.

As an alternative, or in addition to, sparging of the wine within the bulk container 50, the wine may be sparged with gas as it passes along the outlet pipe, by means of a sparger 66 (e.g. a 2 micron pore size sintered metal sparging element) located within the outlet pipe and fed with argon rich gas (e.g. 100% argon) as the wine flows along the pipe 64.

The wine is then discharged into containers via a controlled outlet valve 22, in the same way as for the first embodiment. As for the first embodiment, argon may be injected into the container 24 via a lance 26 prior to being filled with wine and/or may be injected via a lance 44 into the headspace after the wine has been dispensed into the container.

As indicated above, it has been found that the flavour and/or aroma of many wines stored in "bag in box" containers is significantly improved by the above process and the time for which such wines remain drinkable after opening is also significantly increased.

The levels of residual oxygen in the wine are greatly reduced as compared with wines treated with conventional techniques and the oxidation of the wine is this greatly reduced. Moreover, the benefits of the present invention are obtained by using approximately the same volumes of gas as in the prior art techniques.

Taste tests on wine treated in accordance with the present invention have also consistently produced high scores.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiments. For example , although the invention has been described with reference to "bag in box" containers, it is also applicable to other containers, for example to bottles.

Claims

1. A method of treating wine, comprising sparging the wine with an argon-rich gas.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the argon-rich gas comprises substantially 100% argon.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the argon-rich gas further comprises one or more other gases.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the one or more other gases is/are selected from the group comprising other noble gases, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

5. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the argon-rich gas is bubbled through the wine.

6. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the wine is sparged in bulk in a bulk container.

7. A method as claimed in any of claittis 1 to 6, wherein the wine is sparged as it flows into a bulk container.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7 when appendant to claim 6, wherein the rate of flow of sparging gas into the wine as the wine flows into the container is greater than the rate of flow of sparging gas into the wine when the wine is sparged in bulk.

9. A method as claimed in any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the sparging gas is introduced via a sparger located in the vicinity of an inlet for wine into the bulk container.

10. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the wine is sparged as it flows out of a bulk container.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the sparing gas is introduced via a sparger located in an outlet for wine from the bulk container.

12. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the wine is sparged until it is substantially saturated with the argon-rich gas.

13. A process for packaging wine, comprising treating the wine in accordance with a method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 12 and packaging the sparged wine in a substantially gas-impermeable container.

14. A process as claimed in claim 13, wherein the wine is sparged in bulk in a first container prior to being dispensed into a plurality of containers.

15. A process as claimed in claim 14, wherein the sparged wine is stored in bulk in a second container prior to being dispensed into a plurality of containers.

16. A process as claimed in claim 15, wherein a head space above the sparged wine in the second container comprises an argon-rich atmosphere.

17. A process as claimed in any of claims 13 to 16, wherein the sparged wine is dispensed into a plurality of bag-in box containers.

18. A process as claimed in any of claims 13 to 17, wherein the air within the or each container is replaced with an argon-rich atmosphere prior to dispensing of the sparged wine.

19. A process as claimed in any of claims 13 to 18, wherein an argon-rich gas is formed in the head space above the sparged wine within the or each container.

20. A process as claimed in claim 19, wherein an argon-rich gas is introduced into the head space above the sparged wine.

21. A process as claimed in claim 20, wherein the introduced argon-rich gas comprises substantially 100% argon.

22. A process as claimed in claim 20, wherein the introduced argon-rich gas further comprises one or more other gases.

23. A process as claimed in claim 22, wherein the one or more other gases is/are selected from the group comprising other noble gases, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

24. A process as claimed in any of claims 20 to 23, wherein the composition of the argon-rich gas for sparging the wine is substantially identical to that of the argon-rich gas introduced into the container head spaces.

25. A process for packaging wine, comprising dispensing wine into a substantially gas-impermeable container and forming an argon-rich atmosphere in a head space above the wine in the container.

26. A process as claimed in claim 25, comprising introducing an argon-rich gas into the head space above the wine.

27. A process as claimed in claim 26, wherein the argon-rich gas comprises substantially 100% argon.

28. A process as claimed in claim 26, wherein the argon-rich gas further comprises one or more other gases.

29. A process as claimed in claim 28, wherein the one or more gases is/are selected from the group comprising other noble gases, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

30. A method of treating wine, substantially as herein described, with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.

31. A process for packaging wine, substantially as herein described, with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.