AU2006202165B2 - Grape liqueur - Google Patents

Description

56336 GEH:PFB P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: BARROSA GRAPE PRODUCTS PTY LTD Name of inventor: HERMAN THUMM Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: GRAPE LIQUEUR Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Application No. 2005902615 Dated 23rd May 2005 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 This invention relates to the production of a liqueur made from grape juice.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION During the past few years large areas of plantings of vines have occurred and it is the belief of the applicant and many others grape juice production far in excess of the grape juice required for the production of wine will result in a large surplus. This will result in much lower prices not only of the wines but the return to individual growers will be substantially reduced. This is known to be occurring at the present time, there is no market for the grape juice and larges areas of vines will be left with the fruit rotting on the vine. Grape juice is a natural food product, being high in sugars such as fructose and glucose, and three hundred and more elements of the fruit.

Hence there is a surplus of grapes and grape juice and there is a need to find a product utilising such grapes and grape juice. Grape juice drinks are known and also there is available a grape juice spread having a consistency not unlike honey.

The desire is to utilise a portion of the surplus of grapes and/or grape juice to produce a grape drink such as a liqueur either as a non or low alcoholic liqueur or a full strength liqueur.

Liqueurs are commonly made by combining a spirit usually brandy or vodka with certain flavourings and sugar. It is also known the steep fruit in alcohol, such as vodka, brandy or grain alcohol, to which is added a sweetening such as sugar or a saturated sugar solution. The solution is then filtered and bottled. In addition it is known to select particular grapes, such as Muscat grapes, crush and ferment the juice and alcohol is added to produce the liqueur. Also it is known to sweeten alcoholic liquor by adding grape juice.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to produce a grape juice liqueur.

It is a further object of the invention to produce a grape juice liqueur not requiring the fermentation of the grape juice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION There is provided according to the invention a process of producing grape liqueur including the steps of obtaining grape juice, de-acidifying the grape juice, concentrating the de-acidified grape juice to 10-40 Baume', fortifying with grape spirit and adding desired flavours.

Preferably the grape liqueur is sweetened by adding grape juice.

There is provided according to the invention a further process of producing grape liqueur including the steps of obtaining grape juice, de-acidifying the grape juice, concentrating the de-acidified grape juice to increase the baume', mixing the de-acidified grape juice and de-acidified wine, adding grape spirit as alcohol.

Preferably the wine is a white wine.

Preferably the de-acidified grape juice is concentrated under vacuum.

Preferably the wine is fortified.

Preferably the grape spirit is added as the alcohol.

In a further form of the invention there is provided a process of producing grape liqueur including the steps of mixing grape juice concentrate with fortified wine and blended to any sweetness, fortified with grape spirit and de-acidified and flavoured to taste.

Preferably the grape concentrate is of 10-40 preferably 36 Baume'.

Preferably the wine is white table wine.

Preferably the wine is fortified to 10 to 20 alcohol.

Preferably the grape concentrate and the white wine are separately deacidified to 0-0.5 gm/I before being fortified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a block diagram of one method of producing a grape liqueur, and Figure 2 is a block diagram of a further method of producing a grape liqueur.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In its simplest form the grape liqueur is produced from grape juice by deacidifying the grape juice to a value of 0 -0.5 gmnA equivalent to a Ph range of to 7.0. Preferably the grape juice is de-acidified by the addition of calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate in the desired quantities to achieve the desired acidity. The de-acidified grape juice is then concentrated under vacuum to 10 to 40 Baume', preferably 36-37 Baume'. The concentration under vacuum retains the 300 or more elements found in grape juice and thus the concentrated grape juice retains all the goodness of the fruit and nonfattening glucose.

Preferably the grape juice is concentrated under a vacuum at close to zero atmospheric pressure.

The de-acidified concentrated grape juice is fortified by adding grape spirit to the desired alcoholic content. Desired flavours and colours can be added to produce the flavoured grape liqueur.

In a preferred form of the invention as a first step, grape juice is prepared as if for wine making which is concentrated under vacuum to 30 to 45 Baume', preferably to 36 to 37 Baume'. To the concentrated grape juice 90 to 11 Oppm, preferably 100ppm SO2 is added as a preservative and then fortified with grape spirit to 20 to 25% alcohol, preferably 22% alcohol by volume. The grape juice is then de-acidified with calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate to 0-0.5g.l. This is then stored for use as required.

In step 2 a quantity of wine, preferably white table wine is fortified to 22% alcohol and 40ppm SO2 is added as a preservative, the wine is de-acidified by the addition of calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate to 0-0.5 g/l and stored for use when required.

To produce grape liqueur the products of step 1 and step 2 are blended to produce a grape liqueur of 15 to 20 Baume' preferably 17-18 baume'. It is possible to have grape liqueurs of any desirable sweetness or strength between 18-22% alcohol by volume with the de-acidified material.

The proportions of the products 1 and 2 in the blend can vary widely, the proportions being dependent on the type of liqueur being produced and are selected by taste.

In a further form of the invention the grape liqueur can be produced as follows: STEP NO 1 GRAPE JUICE 1. Concentrated to 36 or 37 Baume' 2. De-acidify to 0.5 grams/I 3. Fortify to 17.180 grape alcohol and store as the raw material, preserved with 1 00ppm SO 2 STEP NO 2 WINE 1. White wine 2. De-acify to 3. Fortify with grape alcohol to 180 and store as raw material.

LIQUEURS

1. To produce liqueurs blend the raw material of No 1 with the raw material of No 2 to produce various liqueurs, flavoured and coloured to taste.

Also the raw material Nol can concentrated to 42.5 Baume' to produce grape nectar having the consistency of honey as a food to used in a manner similar to honey.

It is to be appreciated that the degree of sweetness desired in the liqueur is provided by the addition of grape juice, and while other sweeteners such as sugar can be used, it is preferred to use the natural sweetening of the grape juice or glucose or other non-fattening sweeteners.

In addition the addition of grape spirit to the liqueur to create any desired liqueur from low alcohol liqueur to full strength excise duty liqueurs.

While it is preferred to use white table wine, such as a sweet sherry style wine fortified with grape spirit, it is to be realised that other wines and alcoholic beverages can be used to produce desired flavoured liqueurs, for example vodka and other spirit liqueurs. Thus it is possible to make vodka, gin, brandy and whiskey liqueurs which require the addition of the de-acidified dry white table wine as raw material to produce a final product of 1-2 Baume' and 22% alcohol by volume with the sweetness adjusted to taste by the addition of de-acidified grape juice concentrate.

Also it is preferred to separately de-acidify the wine either before or after fortification, and de-acidify the grape juice either before or after concentration.

However it is also possible to blend the fortified wine and the concentrated grape juice and then de-acidify the blend to produce the liqueur.

Hence it can be seen that by the invention a nutritious beverage in the form of a liqueur is produced. The production of a de-acidified liqueur is achieved by either separately de-acidifying the grape juice and the wine or de-acidifying the blended product. The concentration of the grape juice under vacuum retains the vitamins and maintains all the elements of the fruit in sound condition in the liqueur and so the liqueur presents in fact a rich non-fattening food in the form of a low-alcohol grape liqueur, which assists in reducing the surplus of grapes and grape juice.

Although various alternatives are described it is to be realised that variations can be made falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (12)

1. A process of producing grape liqueur including the steps of obtaining grape juice, de-acidifying the grape juice, concentrating the de-acidified grape juice to 10-40 Baume', fortifying with grape spirit and adding desired flavours.

2. A process as defined in claim 1 wherein the grape liqueur is sweetened by adding grape juice.

3. A process as defined in claim 1 wherein the grape juice is de-acidified with calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate to 0 0.5g/A (Ph5.5

4. A process as defined in claim 1 wherein the grape juice is concentrated under a vacuum approaching zero atmospheric pressure.

A process of producing grape liqueur including the steps of providing grape juice, providing a wine, fortifying said wine with grape spirit, blending to a desired sweetness, fortifying with grape spirit, and de-acidifying the blended grape juice and wine and adding flavours and colours as desired.

6. A process of producing grape liqueur including the steps of obtaining grape juice, de-acidifying the grape juice, concentrating the de-acidified grape juice to increase the Baume', de-acidifying wine, mixing the de-acidified grape juice and de-acidified wine, adding grape juice as a sweetener and grape spirit as alcohol.

7. A process as defined in claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the grape juice is de-acidified by the addition of calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate to a value of 0 0.5g/A (Ph5-5 to

8. A process as defined in claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the grape juice is concentrated under vacuum to 20 to 40 Baume'.

9. A process as defined in claim 8 wherein the grape juice is concentrated to 36 to 37 Baume' and stored as a raw material.

A process as defined in claim 6 including the additional step adding a preservative to the de-acidified grape juice for storage, adding a preservative to de-acidified wine for storage, and blending the de-acidified grape juice and the de-acidified wine when desired.

11. A process as defined in claim 10 wherein SO, is added in the range of to 110 ppm as the preservative, preferably 100ppm.

12. A process of producing a grape liqueur substantially as hereinbefore described. Dated this 23 day of May 2006 BARROSA GRAPE PRODUCTS PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys COLLISON CO.