Automation is Radically Transforming Sparkling Wine Production

Sparkling wine is commonly associated with craftsmanship and a very labour-intensive process. Even though a lot of high-end producers still use traditional methods, wineries are now turning to automation as a way to scale without losing quality.

The World is Entering a New Era of Automation

Even though automation has been around for some time, it’s rapidly changing into something completely different. Tech is being used to fine-tune it, and the results are incredible.

Manufacturing plants are now using robotics to assemble and quality-control products, and in the logistics sector, companies are automating their warehouse processes with AI-driven inventory systems.

Smart technology can also be used to automatically program home thermostats and lighting. We are also seeing automation more in entertainment. Bands use automation to program stage lighting and to trigger pyrotechnics. In iGaming, those who play online roulette will notice that in titles such as Auto Roulette Live and Speed Auto Roulette Live, the wheel is spun automatically, and the ball is released via a machine.

The payouts are determined by a computer, meaning no human interaction is required. Automation on levels such as this means the same experience can be given to the player, with a fully automated process that in no way compromises the traditional way of playing roulette.

Examples like this show how automation at scale is possible, without compromising the overall product.

The same concept can be applied to sparkling wine. One of the biggest developments would be riddling, or remuage.

Cellar workers would have to tilt and rotate each bottle over the space of several weeks to ensure that the yeast moves towards the neck of the bottle. Now, Gyropalettes are used. The system can hold hundreds of bottles at once, using controlled movements to ensure a high level of precision.

Automation in Disgorgement and Dosage

When riddling is done, the neck of the bottle is frozen in a solution, which traps the yeast sediment. The bottle is then inverted, and the crown cap is removed.

The wine’s pressure then expels the sediment. As robotics can be used to automatically add the right dosage of sugar before topping up the bottle, consistency can be ensured across thousands of bottles at any given time.

Modern sparkling wine lines can also be made to process up to 12,000 bottles per hour, with processes including foil wrapping, muselet applications, and corking. Palletising, case construction, and packing can also be handled, which reduces handling errors by quite a lot. Automation is also reshaping winery operations.

Smart fermentation tanks now have sensors that monitor sugar levels, oxygen content, and more, ensuring that each vat of wine is precisely monitored and holds up to the same standard that the vineyard is known for.

Some of the biggest sparkling wine companies that use automation include Freixenet, with a fleet of FANUC robots to automate cellar storage and packaging operations. Moët & Chandon also uses YV01 robots to automate weeding and vineyard spraying.

Ridgeview relies on case-taping equipment to scale its production, and Raumland GmbH also uses collaborative robots, called cobots, to automate the heavy lifting required for transporting cases of wine, showing how far automation has come and how imperative it is in sparkling wine production.