The future of winemaking in Vineland isn’t just bright — it’s ultraviolet.
A winery in Vineland is utilizing state-of-the-art ultraviolet sanitizing equipment to clean its grapes without pesticides.
Vintners at Vineland Estates Winery are paving the future of winemaking with groundbreaking technology developed by Clean Works, a company based in St. Catharines.
The two recently worked together to developed and fit one of the of the company’s proprietary ultraviolet (UV) sanitizing lights on the bottom of a grape harvesters.
The winery says that through the use of UV light, ozone and a small amount of hydrogen peroxide, it’s able to kill 99 per cent of germs.
“This technology is the greatest breakthrough in natural, sustainable food preservation since the discovery of pasteurization over 150 years ago,” said Allan Schmidt, the wineries president.
As a bonus, the process can be carried out while the grape is still on the vine, which eliminates the need for chemical pesticides, saves on costs and avoids leaving behind any chemical residue.
The machine is fitted to the undercarriage of a grape harvester, a type of tractor that straddles the above lattice and passes over each row.
While it drives up and down each file, a bright turquoise light passes over each branch and grape, effortlessly sanitizing anything in its way.
At night, the aquamarine glow makes for quite the spectacle — and someday in our future, that blue glow radiating from a busy combine somewhere off in a distant vineyard may become a common sight.
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