Tartaric acid manufacturer/direct distributor, Vinicas Inc., Napa, Calif., appointed Krimo Souilah as winemaker and sales manager for North America. Owner of a Pinot Noir vineyard in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, he also has distributed barrels for Mercier USA Inc. For more information, visit vinicas.com.

Spectrum launches pest ID tool
Spectrum Technologies Inc., Plainfield, Ill., introduced its IPM Scope CAM to help identify and track plant pest and disease pressures via high-resolution photos and videos, without an attached computer. Learn more at specmeters.com.

Nomacorc celebrates 10 years and 10 billion
Nomacorc, Zebulon, N.C., supplier of synthetic wine closures, celebrated it 10th anniversary and shipment of its 10 billionth closure in 2009. The company claims to produce nearly 15% of still wine closures globally. The company launched its new NomaSense O2 Prime, engineered to measure oxygen exposure during bottling, in June. Details: nomacorc.com.

O-I launches lightweight bottles
Owens-Illinois (O-I), Perrysburg, Ohio, glass manufacturer debuted its lightest-ever North American wine bottle, weighing in at 11.6 ounces. The company also introduced a 12-ounce 750ml claret bottle for East Coast customers. Details: o-i.com.

Charlois and Saury merge
France’s Charlois Group merrandier (producer of wood pieces used in barrels) has merged with tonnellerie the Saury Group under chairman and major shareholder Sylvain Charlois and chief executive Fabrice Gautier of Saury. The two companies will retain their separate identities.

Barrel services for Central Coast
Quality Wine Barrels Co., Santa Maria, Calif., refurbishes and repairs wine barrels as well as coopers new 15- and 30-gallon barrels. Details: qualitybarrels.com.

Douglas joins Laffort
Sonoma Valley winemaker David Douglas joined Laffort USA, Sonoma supplier of winemaking products, to provide technical support and trials organization. Details: laffort.com.

Lallemand products get organic approval
Four new products from yeast supplier Lallemand, Petaluma, Calif., have been approved for organic wine production: Fermaid O, GoFerm, Noblesse and Fortiferm are now OMRI listed. Details: lallemand.com.

Bucher Vaslin debuts optical grape sorting
France’s Bucher Vaslin developed Delta Vistalys, an automated grape-sorting process that utilizes optics for adjustable, precise, repetitive harvest sorting prior to winemaking. With a capacity of up to 10 tons per hour, it’s available through KLR Machines, Sebastopol, Calif. Details: klrmachines.com.