3D-printed Concrete Tested for Wine Tanks

Brief 

Aizawa Concrete is testing concrete fermentation tanks against stainless steel tanks at several wineries, with the intent to mass produce the concrete tanks if lab and sommelier testing produce positive results. Aizawa will use 3D printing to create the concrete tanks, which will be designed based on data from taste tests.

Insight

Aizawa Concrete will soon launch proving tests pitting its concrete wine tanks with conventional stainless-steel tanks in wineries in Hokkaido, Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures.

Each of the tanks, which have a 500-liter capacity, will ferment the same varieties of grapes starting with this fall’s harvest. The finished wine will be lab-tested for mineral content and pH values, among other quantifiable factors.

Professional wine tasters will later be brought in — tentatively in January 2024 — to sample and compare the products before handing down their final verdict.Compared to stainless steel, concrete is known to be better at vinifying wine at stable temperatures. The material is also porous at the microscopic level, and its breathability is believed to promote fermentation.

While concrete wine tanks are starting to take hold in Europe. Japanese wineries mostly import them.Because concrete tanks are heavier than stainless-steel tanks, they are more expensive to ship. Stainless steel is also easier to clean. Because of the cost benefits, Japanese wineries chiefly use stainless-steel tanks.

Aizawa Concrete projects it will capture the latent demand for concrete wine tanks if the containers are produced domestically.In 2019, the company started manufacturing 500-liter wine tanks on a pilot basis for Hokkaido-area wineries. The following year, it delivered the 1,000-liter variety, which is the most commonly used in the industry.

The long-term goal is to charge roughly 1 million yen ($6,976) for every 1,000-liter tank. This compares favorably to the typical estimated price tag for an imported wine tank,