As the name suggests, clarification involves the removal of visible particles. This is also the stage where much of the bio-burden is removed to protect the more valuable final stabilisation filter stage.
To prevent refermentation in the bottle and spoilage organisms affecting the taste, appearance and shelf life of the wine, absolute rated pleated cartridge filters at 0.45 micron are used to remove yeast and microorganisms. With red wines, sometimes the final cartridge is 0.65 micron to avoid removal of colour.
