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w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m S e p t - O c t 2 015 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 4 5 conserve, he decided to replace the water-wasting pump with a self-contained Airtech liquid ring vacuum pump that sells for about $7,000. "The Airtech has a 10-gal- lon reservoir that recirculates the water instead of sending it down the drain," Velleno explained. "At the end of the day, you've used 10 gallons of water to run the line and you drain the reservoir." The cyclical nature of work in the winery means that conserving water during peak use often falls to temporary harvest workers who are retrained to make saving water a priority. "Gone are the days when a worker grabs a hose to look busy," Zucker said. Incentives can also play a role in motivating workers to conserve. Zucker monitors daily water use, and when workers use less than the target set for the day, he has offered rewards that include gift cards to local restaurants and busi- nesses. "When you're aware and motivated, you're going to find ways to conserve," he said. WATERLESS SANITATION A new method for sanitizing stainless steel tanks and barrels using ultraviolet light is finding a receptive audience in Califor- nia. The BlueMorph technology has been in development for four years and is coming to market at an opportune time. According to founding partner Alex Farren, a bio- chemist and toxicologist, the meth- od known as Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) uses little or no water, no chemicals and only takes 30 seconds to install. Depending upon size, tanks can be sanitized in less than 30 minutes. "The technology uses four ultravi- olet bulbs and algorithms that calcu- late the distribution of light required to kill wine bugs," said Farren. He worked with winemaker Chris Russi and optical scientist Noah Bareket in developing the technol- ogy, which is being manufactured and serviced by the Tom Beard Co. The device is inserted through the tank's lower man gate and operated using a touchscreen. Jackson Fam- ily Wines in Santa Rosa, Calif., is the first adopter of system, which costs approximately $49,000 per unit. W i n e m a k e r M e g a n G u n d e r- son at WALT winery in Napa Val- ley recently completed a trial that compared BlueMorph UV sanita- tion with standard methods using steam and acid, and had impressive results. "We had ETS Bev Track run a clean tank test and were happy with the BlueMorph results," she said. "The only water we used was The BlueMorph technology uses ultraviolet light to sanitize tanks and barrels with little or no water. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K aacAdV&WMSharp13VGS201501press.pdf 1 8/6/15