Grapes transportation
Grapes are brought to the winery in a variety of vehicles and
containers. The grapes must arrive quickly and intact at the winery.
This means that the grapes should preferably be placed in small
crates of 20-90 kilos so as to avoid impact damage.
De-stalking
Total de-stalking prior to fermentation is necessary when a wine-maker
desires a soft and fine wine. One must only try the taste of a
grape pip or stalk to understand the negative characteristics
it can convey to a wine. Today the best mechanical de-stalkers
replicate the care of the traditional techniques leaving the grapes
intact and removing every stalk before entering the press. Inside
the destalker is a spinning cylindrical device, holding various
inner plates that attract the stalk and pull them away from the
grape, leaving both the stalk and the grape in perfect condition.
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Crushing
Crushing' describes the preliminary pressing of the grape skin to
free the pulp and juice. The cutting of the skin can be more or
less intense depending on grape consistency and the wine desired.
Traditional techniques left the grape almost intact following the
manual destalking, and it's fall into the fermentation tank.
It
enables...
• The first separation of the juice from the solid part.
• It permits the transportation of the grapes through tubes.
• It invokes favourable multiplication of the yeasts.
• It disperses the yeasts in the must.
• Accentuates the dissolution of the colour and tannin.
• Shortens the duration of fermentation and facilitates its
completion.
However...
• In warm climates the pressing can activate fermentation
too quickly.
• It can free the seed conveying astringent substances.
• It can create a lot of lees.
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In the old artisan procedure the stalks were manually separated
in the vine at the end of every row, and the grapes were gently
pressed into the collecting tubs. At the winery the traditional
procedure was to pour the grapes onto a trellis-work, and the workers,
with little wooden rakes, rubbed the grapes until lightly squashed.
They then fell through into the fermentation tank.
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