McLaren Vale contract bottlers Torresan Estate’s new Della Toffola CFK200 crossflow filtration unit has filtered one million litres of wine in eight months and Damian Torresan says it hasn’t missed a beat and he couldn’t be happier with its performance.
Damian says he researched various crossflow filtration units before settling on the Della Toffola. “It came down to this one and one other,” he said. “But in the end the Della Toffola unit was more robust for my operation and could clean itself up better along with a 10 year guarantee on the ceramic membrane – that in itself was peace of mind.
“There was a difference in price… but it’s been worth it.
“We’re a contract site and I don’t get told everything that’s put in the wine all the time and sometimes some wineries will have various additives that will significantly affect a wine’s filterability and it will get left with me to deal with and this unit handles those kinds of issues better.
“Another feature I like is that, after hours, we can monitor the machine on our iphones and tablets. I can check on what it’s doing, how many litres it’s got left to go, and then it will put itself into a clean mode and be ready again for the next morning when we rock up back to work. It’s really self-sufficient in that regard and extremely safe. It’s been fantastic.
“With a really dirty wine we can do 8,000 litres per hour and cleaner wine about 16,000 litres per hour. It’s very quick and efficient.”
Torresan Estate had previously used lenticular filtration.
“But now the winemakers are all demanding crossflow,” Damian says.
“It is paramount now for the winemaking process. Crossflow gives you the advantage of one pass and it’s sterile-ready whereas
earth filtration or pad filtration is three passes on a wine minimum. With crossflow it’s one pass and you’re there, it’s a no-brainer now. We are averaging around 80 litres or less loss! All my clients are loving it.”
The CFK200 has a 170 square metre module and a 30 square metre module. “I can isolate both of those sides and
use the smaller module for small batches of wine,” Damian says. “Or I can run them both together.”
Damian said the cellar hands had picked up the operation of the machine quickly.
“It’s pretty easy,” he says. “It’s been minimal training for the cellar hands and they have all learnt within a few goes and have got their heads around it really well.”
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This article first appeared in WBM Magazine