Page 64 - Grapevine NovDec 2021

Around The Vineyard

sition at <0.010 mg/L. This is completely useless contract labs will have an ICP, some will have an
information for a vineyard and a waste of test anal- ICP-OES and perhaps a few an ICP-DRC and only a
ysis money. very few will have an ICP-MS. For any given sample,
the analysis cost reflects the cost of the instru-
What if the mg/L of iron required to make a grape ment and the professional level of the analyst. For
that creates that reproducible excellent wine that example, an ICP water analysis may cost $100, an
you are striving for is between 0.0012 mg/L and ICP-OES analysis $150, ICP-DRC $200 and using and
0.0079 mg/L and anything out of that range chang- ICP-MS $300.
es your grape’s characteristics? This kind of tight
elemental tolerance is the most critical aspect These are all just examples and the actual costs
of a metal’s metallurgical grade. Why would the will be determined by working with your contract
extremely complicated chemical composition of a lab’s client account manager. If asking for XRD anal-
grape be any different? ysis for leaf and soil analyis, there is only one lab
that I know of in Canada where the analysts are all
The best instrument for extreme lower detection PhD’s. I only used that lab. You get what you pay
limits is an ICP-MS, Inductively Coupled Plasma for.
Mass Spectrometer. It can not only easily go to the
To get a handle on the actual chemistry of the
water that you are using at your vineyard, the Chart
1 may help you track water quality vs. grape and
wine quality of your various blends. Remember,
this is a long term endeavour, much like your goals
to create great award winning wines year to year.

Your winery, land and associated equipment are
worth many millions. The quality of your wines and
your reputation is priceless. Do all that you can to
win awards every year. In the next article we can
discuss the rocket science of soil chemistry. Cheers!

very low ppb, but to the very low parts per trillion
range. A basic ICP will cost about $75,000, (all these
costs in CDN$) an ICP-OES $140,000, an ICP-DRC
(Inductively Coupled Plasma Dynamic Reaction Cell)
$200,000 and an ICP-MS upwards of $500,000. All

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