Cheers to Compressors: Making Wine a Possibility

Let’s face it wine is an important staple in our lives, whether you drink it or not. It’s the hostess gift we bring to dinner, a white elephant gift during the holidays, it’s the drink we share with friends and family around the table as we cheers to any number of important life moments.

Many wineries boast about using the finest ingredients to make their wine but using even the best ingredients means little without the proper equipment. The highest quality compressed air is a vital ingredient to the process, meaning using the best air compressors, nitrogen generators, and blowers is critical.

From aeration, to bottling to labeling compressed air equipment is used during almost every step in the wine making process and Atlas Copco can provide all the industrial equipment necessary to make the best wine. Throughout the wine making process, wineries need air compressors, nitrogen generators and oil-free, low-pressure blowers.

• Aeration. During winemaking, aeration is an essential process that introduces oxygen into the wine, allowing it to breathe and soften prior to bottling. Our oil-free, low-pressure blower solutions are ideal for a winery’s aeration needs.
• Bottling. Compressors provide the pressurized air that moves the wine from the barrels to the bottles. And because wines are particularly susceptible to oxidation during bottling, using an inert gas like nitrogen to remove the oxygen from the empty bottles helps ensure the freshness of the wine. N2 is also used to eliminate the carbon gases from the bottles prior to capping.
• Crushing & Pressing Grapes. Though we'd like to believe grape stomping is still the main grape-crushing method, this has been replaced by a partnership between air compressors, the grape crusher, and a bladder. After the press is loaded with grapes, the grape crusher applies compressed air to one side of a bladder to squeeze juice out of the grapes. Next, compressed air is utilized to inflate the bladder, so the grape juice is pressed out through the vent holes.
• Labeling. Compressed air is used to adhere the labels onto the wine bottles.
• Sparging. Also called nitrogen gas sparging, this process is where nitrogen is applied as very fine bubbles to eliminate any dissolved oxygen from the wine. This can have a variable impact, depending on whether it is a white or red wine.

Atlas Copco has a complete line of offerings for all wine making needs. From our oil-lubricated GA 7-75 VSD+ range to our 100% Class 0-certified oil-free compressors and compressors with VSD technology, Nitrogen generators and oil-free blowers, we have the exact options that will fit each winery’s unique needs.

So, as you jump on that summer wine tour with your friends, send up a quick thank you to air compressors for making your trip possible.

Learn more about Atlas Copco's line of products to meet all your wine making needs by visiting our white house.