{"id":709,"date":"2019-10-16T21:48:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T21:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/?p=709"},"modified":"2021-12-21T23:07:59","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T23:07:59","slug":"optical-sorting-new-winemaking-technology-for-harvest-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frankfamilyvineyards.com\/blog\/optical-sorting-new-winemaking-technology-for-harvest-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Optical Sorting: New Winemaking Technology for Harvest 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As\na wave of Cabernet Sauvignon came in from our Rutherford property, Winston\nHill, in mid-October, the Frank Family winemaking team was excited to put a new\ntool to use. The winery has recently made a sizable investment in the latest\nwinemaking technology, an optical laser sorting machine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nrevolutionary upgrade allows only the finest fruit to reach our fermentation tanks,\noak barrels, and ultimately our bottles. The term \u2018optical\u2019 is used because a\ndigital camera takes pictures of the berries as they move across a conveying\ntable and scans based on a pixel comparison of our perfect fruit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Each\nmorning, as fresh-picked fruit is delivered to the crush pad, our winemakers\ncarefully select our ideal berries and pass them through a stream of electroluminescent\ndiodes, similar to LED lights. The machine reads the organic composition of\neach berry by taking a microsecond photo that measures size, shape, color, and\norganic structure. With the picture of the perfect berry in mind, the optical\nsorter will scan every grape that comes across the conveyer belt, analyzing each\none with light waves at an incredibly rapid rate. In just 30 milliseconds, the\ndigital scanner compares each berry against our winemaker\u2019s exact specifications.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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