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An innovative molecular filtration technology is helping winemakers in the United States, Canada and New Zealand enhance wine quality and reclaim value. Developed by amaea, this smart polymer technology allows producers to selectively remove unwanted compounds, such as bitterness or off flavors, without stripping desirable characteristics.

Duncan Shouler, consulting winemaker and former director of winemaking at Giesen Group in New Zealand, explained how this precise method differs from traditional filtration methods and why it is a game changer for modern winemaking.

“Molecularly imprinted polymers are pretty fascinating, and it’s certainly not something that’s been commonly used in the wine industry,” Shouler said. “It’s really very recent.”

Winemakers have long fined wines to remove compounds that affect texture, flavor or aroma. Traditionally, Shouler said, protein-based products, such as gelatin, milk and egg whites, bind to polyphenolic molecules in wine. These complexes settle out or can be filtered off.

“These products do a really good job,” he said. “But two things: One is obviously all those three products are not, for example, vegan-friendly, and they only have a limited amount of selectivity. So they will remove what you want to remove, but quite often you’ll also find that they’ll remove other things as well that perhaps you didn’t want to lose.”

That limitation prompted Shouler and his team, in partnership with amaea, to explore whether molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) could enable precision removal of unwanted compounds without compromising beneficial elements or sustainability.

“With MIPs… we wanted to look at whether we could use this technology to be a bit more selective, remove what we want to remove without removing the good stuff, and do it in a way that’s possibly also vegan-friendly and maybe a little bit more sustainable,” he said.

Alcoholic and Nonalcoholic Applications
At Giesen, traditional fining often meant sacrificing volume and flavor. But after adopting molecular filtration, Shouler said, wineries have successfully reduced bitterness and astringency without diminishing taste. The outcome: smoother wines, less waste and improved balance.

“At Giesen, we employed the technology in quite a specific way,” Shouler said. “Now, Giesen is a New Zealand wine producer, a successful one that’s made regular wine for many years. But over the last five years, we’ve developed a range of nonalcoholic wines, which of course is a category that’s really exploded in the last few years, and that complements the range of full-alcohol wines.”

Removing alcohol from wine intensifies flavors that are often masked by alcohol’s sweetness, body and acidity balance. As a result, bitterness and astringency become more pronounced, a significant hurdle for producers of nonalcoholic wines.

“When you remove alcohol from a wine, let’s say, a red wine, generally you’re going to change the wine,” he said. “Things are going to be lost. You’ll lose some of the sweetness and texture of alcohol and things like acidity, and especially astringency and bitterness become more pronounced.”

Shouler and his team turned to molecularly imprinted polymer technology to address this challenge in their nonalcoholic merlot. The aim was to reduce harsh characteristics and restore balance, delivering a product with natural appeal.

“We wanted to see if we could use molecularly imprinted polymer technology to help reduce bitterness and reduce astringency so we had a balanced wine once we removed the alcohol,” he said.

Beyond selectivity and quality, the benefits of molecular filtration extend to yield and sustainability. Conventional fining agents entail filtering or settling out precipitates, resulting in lost volume and added waste.

“One thing with using regular fining is that once you’ve added them, you are adding something to the wine which binds to something in the wine, which then drops out of solution,” Shouler said. “And when you do that, you generally always have to accept two things. One, like I said, you’re probably going to remove some things that you don’t want to remove. And secondly, you’re going to experience some wine loss because you’ve got to then filter that out or settle it out and then rack it off. And when you do that, you lose a bit of volume.”

“We’ve reduced bitterness. We’ve reduced astringency. We’ve preserved flavor. We’ve kept volume. We’ve remained vegan-friendly. And we’ve improved our sustainability message while ensuring the quality of the product.” – Duncan Shouler, winemaker

Economic and Environmental Benefits
For Giesen and similar producers, minimizing product loss while maintaining vegan status strengthens both economic and environmental credentials. In the wine industry, an added environmental benefit to the production process is always advantageous.

“For us, the value was in reducing loss but also improving our sustainability message and ensuring that the product was vegan-friendly,” said Shouler. “And of course, I suppose more than anything else, at the forefront of it was the quality of the product.”

These gains align with increasing consumer demand for transparency, traceability and natural integrity. Younger drinkers especially are mindful not only of where grapes come from, but what processing methods have been used.

“There’s value in things like, where did the fruit come from, the vineyard, the sense of place, provenance. But increasingly you find value in that sustainability message. Consumers, again, especially younger consumers, are really conscious of what they’re consuming,” Shouler said.

He noted that though traditional fining agents are natural, growing concerns over additives have prompted producers to seek cleaner, simpler winemaking techniques.

“Egg whites, gelatin, milk, they’re all natural products, but they don’t sit well with some people,” he said. “And if you can reduce the additives, that’s a really strong message.”

The precision of molecular filtration allows winemakers to remove only unwanted compounds without adding foreign substances, preserving the wine’s authenticity and integrity.

“One thing we did find with this technology is that you’re not adding anything,” Shouler said. “You’re not actually adding anything to the wine. You’re removing what you want to remove to give you the style and quality you’re after, without adding anything else.”

That minimalist approach, he added, enhances both the wine’s sensory quality and its broader consumer appeal.

Applications in California Wine and the United States
Other major producers are exploring the technology’s potential. California producer Jackson Family Wines has successfully trialed molecular filtration to reduce bitterness in hard-pressed white wines, replacing traditional single-use fining agents in the process.
“One area where we see a lot of potential is replacing single-use fining agents with reusable media…” said Dr. Caroline Merrell, senior manager of winemaking technical services at Jackson Family Wines, in a recent press release. “During a recent trial, amaea’s MIP treatment decreased bitterness and was preferred sensorially over wines treated with traditional fining agents. The results were impressive and will allow us to simultaneously improve quality in select wines while decreasing waste from single-use inputs.”

Over the past 18 months, more than 55 producers have applied molecularly imprinted polymer technology to treat an estimated 450,000 gallons (1.7 million liters) of wine across the United States, Canada and New Zealand, according to an amaea spokesperson. Industry reports estimate the adoption of molecular filtration has helped producers reclaim substantial wine volumes previously considered unsalvageable due to quality issues.

In the United States, the technology has been deployed on approximately 265,000 gallons (1 million liters) of wine affected by challenges like hard pressing, smoke taint, pyrazine-related flavors and frost impact.

The technology is currently available in the United States through treatment providers, including VA Filtration and Winesecrets, focusing primarily on West Coast wineries.

The Future of Molecular Filtration
The emergence of molecularly imprinted polymer filtration marks a turning point for producers balancing quality, sustainability and market expectations. For full-alcohol wines, the technology offers a path to smoother, cleaner flavor profiles without sacrificing aging potential. For nonalcoholic and low-alcohol wines, where structural imbalances are magnified, it provides a vital tool to restore harmony and drinkability.

By reducing waste through less volume lost to fining and eliminating animal-derived agents, the technology supports more ethical production methods aligned with vegan, vegetarian and eco-conscious consumer values. And for brands wanting to tell a compelling sustainability story, that is an increasingly important point of differentiation.

As molecular filtration gains traction in winery trials across the United States, Canada and New Zealand, its long-term impact will depend on cost scalability and sensory consistency across varietals and vintage conditions. But for winemakers like Shouler at Giesen, the early results are promising.

“We’ve reduced bitterness,” he said. “We’ve reduced astringency. We’ve preserved flavor. We’ve kept volume. We’ve remained vegan-friendly. And we’ve improved our sustainability message while ensuring the quality of the product. That’s a pretty strong win all round.”