My sister and her boyfriend have a small commercial winery. They buy 5 or 6 tons of grapes a year. They just got 1.2 tons of Chardonnay grapes from a vineyard on the Klamath River. A ton of grapes will yield about 500 bottles. I helped them make the last batch.
The first step was pressure washing and disinfecting all the tubs and equipment. That was splashy. Then bro forklifted a bin of grapes off the trailer and set it up on an empty bin. A rolling platform stands next to the bin so bro can shovel from above.
I was kneeling on the concrete catching the crushed grapes in a barrel. The machine separates most of the stems. My job was to monitor the outlet and pick out pieces of grape leaf, leaf stems and the occasional earwig.
Partially crushed grapes came flying out of the bottom, mostly into the barrel but also on my arms and face. We stopped the machine when the barrel filled so my sister and I could hoist it up and pour it into the press.
The press is like a large stainless perforated cylinder with an air bladder down the cylinder. As you fill it with grapes the juice runs out the side and is collected (ultimately into a large stainless barrel). When the press is full the top is attached so the internal bladder can be pressurized. We did a gentle press of 2 atmospheres.
We did that process twice over, including the pressure washing and disinfecting. I'm leaving out all the crafty details. For my part it was messy, sticky, physically demanding and fun. An ancient practice, and like canning or preserving any type of food it's a very human thing to do, connecting oneself to the ancestors.
The process for making reds is a little different and I'll get to learn about that in a week or two.
The first step was pressure washing and disinfecting all the tubs and equipment. That was splashy. Then bro forklifted a bin of grapes off the trailer and set it up on an empty bin. A rolling platform stands next to the bin so bro can shovel from above.
I was kneeling on the concrete catching the crushed grapes in a barrel. The machine separates most of the stems. My job was to monitor the outlet and pick out pieces of grape leaf, leaf stems and the occasional earwig.
Partially crushed grapes came flying out of the bottom, mostly into the barrel but also on my arms and face. We stopped the machine when the barrel filled so my sister and I could hoist it up and pour it into the press.
The press is like a large stainless perforated cylinder with an air bladder down the cylinder. As you fill it with grapes the juice runs out the side and is collected (ultimately into a large stainless barrel). When the press is full the top is attached so the internal bladder can be pressurized. We did a gentle press of 2 atmospheres.
We did that process twice over, including the pressure washing and disinfecting. I'm leaving out all the crafty details. For my part it was messy, sticky, physically demanding and fun. An ancient practice, and like canning or preserving any type of food it's a very human thing to do, connecting oneself to the ancestors.
The process for making reds is a little different and I'll get to learn about that in a week or two.
