Winemaking - Pressing Grapes

In anticipation of Aglianico grape harvest and more grapes to make our own wine, it was important to clear out the Montepulciano fermenting in the tote. As I said earlier, we are hobby winemakers with the dream of one day having our own "real" winery, so, we scaled up our batch size.

Once the fermentation is complete and you know it is, because the foaming stops when you press down the cap, the grapes are ready to be pressed. Pressing is done to remove the skins and seeds from the juice.

To do this, the grapes and juice are bucketed into a wine press.

We have a bladder press that extracts the juice. The fermented grapes are poured in the top.

For a closer look:

Once the press is full of juice, water is turned on to fill the bladder which is in the center of the grapes. As the pressure rises, the grapes are pressed between the sides of the press and the bladder. The juice runs out the bottom.

Juice is then cuaght and put into barrels.

This juice will be allowed to sit and settle any particulates. Once it has settled for a few months, it will be decanted and the dregs discarded.