 | | | Consumer Reviews
 | | ENOLOGIX's 100-POINT WINEMAKING RATINGS
Read our "consumers'" reviews of ideas and supplies being recommended or sold to California winemakers below. Reviews are comprised of both a numeric score between 50 and 100 points and written reviews by our users. No guarantee is made as to the accuracy or reliability of the information (please see our Copyright).
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| | | | Micro-Oxygenation Devices
Description: A simple ceramic membrane through which pure oxygen is diffused at rates of mL oxygen per liter of wine per month (1-100). Is it true this constant rate of diffusion of oxygen improves the tannins and hence the sensory or economic value of classically made fine wines?
Rating: 85
Category: Equipment (list all categories)
Manufacturer: Distributed by Vinovation, CA
Submitted By: Mark Lyon , Winemaker
Total Reviews: 14
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| | Reviewed By
Mark Lyon , Winemaker
Review Date
07/15/08
Rating
Liked
(top) | | This technique should be used for making Sonoma wine priced below $20 and Napa wines below $30, to account for higher grape costs. Caveat: Enologix recommends limiting use to first six (6) months.
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| | Reviewed By
dnwines , Winemaker
Review Date
05/25/05
Rating
Liked
(top) | | We've used micro-ox for several years, the oenodev equipment. I find the best use is with syrah and merlot, which tend toward reductive characters early on, and for stuck or slow fermentations, I believe it can help. We also use it at low levels for tank fermented chardonnay press wine, where we look for the phenolic softening that some oxygen can give without the micro risk and labor of barrel aging this wine.
I can't really say if it improves the structure and development of our reds long term. A useful tool.
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| | Reviewed By
macrostie , Winemaker
Review Date
05/02/03
Rating
Disliked
(top) | | We make Pinot Noir wines which are not as long lived as Napa Cabernet, so we want to avoid oxygen.
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| | Reviewed By
sterling , Winemaker
Review Date
02/28/03
Rating
Mixed
(top) | | My experience is limited, it has been used to reduce aroam, vegetal, attributes but the prediction that it improves phenolic attributes has not been proven in our cellars.
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| | | | I have made consumer, premium and reserv e red wines with extra oxygen using micro-ox equipment. It adds quality attributes for wines made in tanks, and without the barrel aging that has traditionally been used to make premium wines. It has not worked with making the traditional French varietal wines which we age 18-24 months. It can oxidize the wines, covering herbal defects as well as positive berry and positive varietals. As a Sonoma friend some techniques are equalizers, such as Brettanomyces which hide defects and attributes. I do not recommend micro -ox for premium French varietal red wines, ever, if I have the barrels. The key to traditoinal French winemaking is measuring quality in the vineyard, and conserving it in the winery. No equipment to date has proven to add color or flavor to a wine.
In conclusion, I like micro-ox for consumer wines, and I dislike it for reserve wines. Micro-ox is a replacement for micro-ox in barrels. There is no correlation between micro-ox and consumer preference or critics' scores.
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| | Reviewed By
kirkland , Winemaker
Review Date
01/16/03
Rating
Disliked
(top) | | I hear that if you use barrels, incorporating oxygen using French wine farm practices, you do not need this idea. I have not necessarily like the Micro-Ox wines. But my real feeling is that I am committed to traditional over modern technology. I would use it in a non-luxury winemaking environment.
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| | | | We American winemakers grab-on to technology fast; while we do not protect the traditional Euro winemaking operatons we rely on to make our greatest wines. Micro-Ox is NOT for Pinot Noir which benefits from sur lies. I am saying Micro-Ox is the opposite of sur lies.
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| | | | Consumer wines, sold at less than $12 per bottle, I like MOX primarily for reds, however, at low rates it has been effective with Chardonnay, ONLY in tanks.
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| | | | Making wine in Long Island, have not used it. We have tasted wines at another Long Island winery and we found that the wines tasted rounder, but I liked less micro-oxygenation. We felt it hardened Long Island wines. We are here in California and see it as a product for consumer wines, it is not for luxury winemaking.
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| | | | My sense is that elevage, the breeding and education, of a wine is caused by settling and oxygen. And oxygen's affect in the first six months of a wines life is to kill yeast, or otherwise aid in settling too. The affect of oxygen on phenolics in the first six months appears to be minimal in my experience. This is confirmed in the French paper that was translated for Enologix clients in the Janaury through March Newsletter. I favor of Micro-Ox, but for yeast clarification, and only in the first months of a wines life. Does anyone know of defects caused by Micro-Ox that Enologix Authorized Consultants should beware of for California Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon?
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| | Reviewed By
nicolas , Winemaker
Review Date
04/03/02
Rating
Liked
(top) | | We have been using MOX for 5 years now (before Clark Smith got involve). We've conducted some good experimentatiuon with it and we were happy about the results. It works well with our fruit and fits our winemaking practices. We saw a significant increase in polymeric pigment (Somers assay), a decrease in vegetal aromas and we can maintain our wine in tank without any reduction problems. It is a tricky treatment and requires a lot of attention from the winemaker (more work!). I am applying it to a wide range of wine quality and at different dosage according to what I am trying to achieve.
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| | | | Enologix newsletter, Janurary-March 2002, talks about sur lies is micro-oxygenation. The newsletter translated a French paper that says, micro-ox affects yeast not phenols, i.e. there is no correlation between micro-ox and phenols. That was news to me because Clark Smith promotes the phenols aspect more than the yeast.
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| | | | I worked at Hard's in Australlia where they used hyper-oxidation, where they sparged the red grape for Syrah, Cab and Merlot.
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| | Reviewed By
Phil Steinschriber , Winemaker
Review Date
03/19/02
Rating
Disliked
(top) | | Though some bordeaux varietal winemakers use it Diamond Creek does not use of believe in micro-oxidation is "normal" with respect to the traditional methods of the classic French wine-farm. And we have a need to fix tannins since our wines are tannic, yet I would not use micro-oxidation to make highly traditional luxury wines, i.e. classic winemaking.
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