This post is for any of our wine
fanatic followers. Even though we lack some information on the history and
background of today’s post we still wanted to highlight the following artifact for
interest’s sake.
The
artifact that we want to share with you is a wine filter marked, “The Paragon
Filter, Crown Filter Co. Glasgow”. This intriguing artifact seems to have come
from abroad, as it is also marked “Port-Dundas, Glasgow, Pottery CoY.”
Unfortunately, like many artifacts in our collection, we don’t have a history
of where and when this artifact was used. It can be hard to know everything
about artifacts donated to the museum, as many times the donor is a descendant
of the artifact’s original owner and they only know to whom it belonged. So, we
can’t always tell you a complete story for this reason, but we’ll do our best
to fill you in with some other details about this wine filter.
Port-Dundas
Pottery Company started in 1828 and closed in 1932 after having various owners
and going under the name of James Miller & Company for some time. The
company, from what we can find, manufactured beer bottles. It’s assumed that
while in the business of beer bottle manufacturing, Port-Dundas Pottery must
have taken up wine filter manufacturing as well. (We have attached the link
below where we found this information and it includes some specifics for those
interested.)
While
we had trouble coming across any information pertaining to this particular wine
filter, we thought it fitting to share a brief reasoning as to why filtering wines
takes place. Filtration is not only for removing the cloudiness from young
wines, but it is also important in controlling the microbes (yeast and
bacteria) that are in the wines that could ferment if not removed. Not that we
are wine-making experts by any means, but our research tells us that filtration
can clarify a young wine faster than fining can. This process is important for
having a wine that is not only clear, but stable and won’t change hugely while
in storage overtime. 
While
our wine filter is missing its cover and also the filtration part from inside,
we have attached a link to a Paragon Filter we found for sale online to give you
an idea of what it would have looked like in its prime: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/the-paragon-crown-filter-co-glasgow-stoneware
We
hope you find this artifact as interesting as we did! What we think makes it
even more fascinating is that wine filtering still takes place today (unlike
rug beating), and so even though methods and equipment may have advanced, filtration
- a historic process in wine-making - is still necessary.
http://www.enologyinternational.com/filtration/filtration.html
No comments:
Post a Comment