History

From 1997 until 2006 when it changed its name to Memstar, Wine Network Technology operated an Australian mobile service business concentrating grape juice and wine, removing taints, adjusting wine alcohol and reducing volatile acidity.

Memstar continues this offering and is now a growing international business dedicated to the research, development and commercialisation of membrane separation technologies for wine applications. It was established from an alliance between Gary Baldwin and David Wollan's wine industry advisory and service group, Wine Network and membrane separation specialist, Wayne Shub's Blue H2O Filtration. The purpose of the joint venture was to design, manufacture, sell, service and support, Memstar's emerging technologies. The first project was a new high-tech mobile RO system for its own use and since then a number of different systems have been supplied to clients and sub-licensees in Australia and overseas.

Memstar's initial service was based on the work of US inventor, Clark Smith of Vinovation. He recognised that reverse osmosis membranes allow the passage of certain undesirable components into the permeate while retaining most of the larger, desirable, vinous components in the concentrate. This allowed the treatment of permeate to remove the undesirable components using processes that would be damaging if used on the wine as a whole. The first application was to reduce volatile acidity and Memstar/Wine Network Technology is the Australian licensee for this process.

More recently Memstar has developed its own techniques for removing specific wine taints and adjusting alcohol. It has worked for hundreds of clients from the very largest producers to the smallest and has successfully treated many millions of litres of their wines. Its commitment to innovation has been recognised with a number of awards and it now has license and distribution agreements with companies around the world.