Entrepreneur trying to innovate microbial control in wine production

[AJ Davis]

Hi All!

My name is AJ and my company is working to develop a new microbial control tool for winemakers. We are currently developing a new product that physically kills harmful microbes in wine without chemicals, heat, or filtration. At a minimum, we believe our tool can be an extra complementary microbial control tool in a winemaker's tool belt but we are also hopeful our technology can eventually replace sterile filtration and maybe even sulfites. Early tests demonstrate 5+ log reductions in cfu/mL with no impact to flavor. Nothing is removed or added to the product in the process, just microorganisms that were once alive and harmful are now all dead. The technology may also be used to quickly stop fermentation.

I am a very humble novice in the winemaking space and I am hopeful some of you might be willing to answer some of my stupid questions about the process from time to time. Thanks for letting me join your group!

-AJ

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

Gosh, that sounds potentially very attractive. I gather that you are being cagey about the technology. (Sonication?) I would love to know more about it. Good luck!

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome!

 

[balatonwine]

Sounds like another attempt that misses the entire point of the je ne sais quoi of wine making.

Some "harmful" microbes may actually add to the wine that people like. Who is to decide if they do or not? Or what is ideal wine? Who is to decide what is appropriate flavor, bouquet, aroma, etc.? Wine snobs? The market? The general public? It is complicated. Good luck.

Edit: Cross reference (see last paragraph)

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/no-sulphite.75690/post-831077

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

A couple weeks ago I read about Dr. Royal Rife who used various frequencies in the 1930's to kill cancer cells. Supposedly it worked and the drug companies shut him down.

Have fun and good luck!

 

[David Violante]

Welcome! I’m super interested as well and looking forward to your progress… no questions are stupid. We are all at different points on this curve and very willing to help each other.

 

[TxBrew]

Welcome to WMT. Glad to have you here. What type of wine are you making or planning to make?

 

[balatonwine]

no questions are stupid.

Well.... despite similar comments often declared as an axium, it is not. It is an opinion. And one that is not actually universally true. Rather.... it depends on context, content, etc. It is complicated....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_stupid_question
https://nsucurrent.nova.edu/2020/09/29/are-there-stupid-questions/
https://alanweiss.com/there-are-stupid-questions/
Etc....

The OP has not replied so far to the two posts he made. So was his question simply a marketing ploy? And if so, are we maybe not guilty of the larger crime to a stupid question.... The stupid answer?

Edit: Kudos to the OP for a photo of himself. I think I am in the minority (there are others @Snafflebit etc) regular here with similar....

 

[David Violante]

I appreciate your thoughtful posting and agree with the premiss of context.

Having been here for a short while now, I do appreciate the thoughtfulness of those answering questions for folks with a genuine desire to learn and find their own answers. I believe, in such a context, those questions are not so stupid at all.

To that end, I will give people the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, especially on this forum. It is quite a wonderful place. I also appreciate how folks here answer. Some answers are direct, others use the Socratic method (my preferred style of teaching). This forum is just amazing.

We shall see here. If it’s genuine, super, if not, we’re not really any worse for the wear and will simply move on to other wonderful things.

 

[AJ Davis]

Welcome to WMT!

Gosh, that sounds potentially very attractive. I gather that you are being cagey about the technology. (Sonication?) I would love to know more about it. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply! I can confirm it's not sonication. I will share more details as I can.

 

[AJ Davis]

Well.... despite similar comments often declared as an axium, it is not. It is an opinion. And one that is not actually universally true. Rather.... it depends on context, content, etc. It is complicated....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_stupid_question
https://nsucurrent.nova.edu/2020/09/29/are-there-stupid-questions/
https://alanweiss.com/there-are-stupid-questions/
Etc....

The OP has not replied so far to the two posts he made. So was his question simply a marketing ploy? And if so, are we maybe not guilty of the larger crime to a stupid question.... The stupid answer?

Edit: Kudos to the OP for a photo of himself. I think I am in the minority (there are others @Snafflebit etc) regular here with similar....

Thanks for the reply! No marketing ploy (at least not intentionally)! We are still very much in the product development and information gathering stage. I am really just trying to understand if the technology could have value in the space, and if so precisely where. Thanks for the kudos on the photo!

 

[AJ Davis]

Sounds like another attempt that misses the entire point of the je ne sais quoi of wine making.

Some "harmful" microbes may actually add to the wine that people like. Who is to decide if they do or not? Or what is ideal wine? Who is to decide what is appropriate flavor, bouquet, aroma, etc.? Wine snobs? The market? The general public? It is complicated. Good luck.

Edit: Cross reference (see last paragraph)

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/no-sulphite.75690/post-831077

Thanks for the reply! Agreed, this technology certainly wouldn't make sense for all winemakers. Early feedback does seem to indicate that there are some winemakers that would prefer the microbial control benefits of tools like Velcorin and sterile filtration but not add or remove anything from the product. We are hopeful we can add value there.