In the wine cellar the wine is stored in large, stainless steel tanks. Virtually all of the wine that is consumed gains little by being stored in bottles, and keeps best in large volumes. This is recognised by the fact that wine has a longer storage life and durability when it is in large bottles than in normal ones.
Generally speaking, it is air that is the enemy of wine, destroying its fruity and spicy aromas. A blanket of inert gas, which does not dissolve into the wine or react to its components, is therefore put into our wine cellar to protect the wine. We also employ a technique that presses small bubbles of the gas directly into the wine stream. This results in the dissolved oxygen being pressed out.
The 180 tanks in the wine cellar have a capacity of about 4 million litres of wine. All the equipment is cleaned before and after use. It is vital for the quality of the wine that the environment is kept as clean as possible. Our washing system is called CIP “Clean in place” and comprises the washing of tanks, piping, components and bottling columns. The actual washing is done in sequence and includes rinsing, caustic wash, hot water rinsing and an option for clear rinsing.
The wine is ready when received from the producer, thus the time it is stored in the tanks shall be as short as possible. Pipelines pass from the tanks through a filtering system and up to the bottling facility. Here the products are tapped into bottles or BIB (bag in box). The entire process is computer controlled.
We utilise a comprehensive quality control system so that all products arriving at our plant are checked at many stages in the process. Samples are taken on receiving and processing the products. In addition, draw-off samples are taken from the tanks. In the case of storage in tanks, samples of red wine and white wine are tested at 3-week intervals.