obsessed with wine podcast with Wesley Cable Sr On the New York City Podcast Network

The Daily Taste: Tuesday May 31st, 2022 – Pressing Red Grapes

Play This Episode

1 Vote

Yesterday I went through the process of settling and racking white wine and how temperature is crucial for white wine fermentation Unlike our delicate white wine red wine is allowed to ferment fast and hot A typical red wine fermentation can get between 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit and can be completed in less than two weeks Once the red wine fermentation has completed the real hard labor starts Now the tank or barrel is full of grapes skins seeds and the newly fermented wine The next step in the process is to drain the wine from the tank and press the grapes to get the remaining wine out of them This process is called drain and press The wine is drained from the bottom of the tank through a screen and into a stainless-steel sump From there it s pumped into a tank or barrel The wine comes out fast during draining so you must control the opening in the tank with a valve so you don t overfill the sump and lose gallons of wine Once the wine has been drained from the tank the main door is opened and the fermented grapes and skins are manually pulled out of the front of the tank with a specially designed plastic pitchfork The goal is to make enough room in the opening of the tank to allow someone to crawl in and dig out the rest of the grapes Depending on the size of the tank and how many tons of grapes are inside this process can take a long time and its exhausting Ask anyone who has worked in a winery during harvest and they will tell you that digging out a tank after a red wine fermentation is by far the hardest job in the winery Not only is digging out the tank a lot of work but it s also dangerous due to the levels of carbon dioxide Safety precautions are in place to make sure nobody breathes in too much carbon dioxide and dies Carbon dioxide is created as a biproduct of fermentation and is released through the top of the tank but sometimes there can be pockets of carbon dioxide that get trapped in the pile of grapes A special portable carbon dioxide meter is worn by anyone entering the tank to make sure the levels of carbon dioxide are not too high If the carbon dioxide meter starts to beep you will need to get out of the tank immediately As an emergency precaution everyone entering a tank must wear a harness with a rope attached so they can be pulled to safety if they pass out due to the carbon dioxide Once the grapes have been dug out of the tank it apos s time to put them in the press The wineries I worked at used basket presses for pressing their red grapes These giant presses get their names from basket looking containers the grapes are dumped in to be pressed Just like with our white wine presses the winemaker uses a touch screen to tell the press how much pressure to use and how long to press These press cycles can take three hours each or longer The pressed wine is pumped from the press into a tank or barrel or both depending on the preference of the winemaker One of the most amazing things to see after red grapes have been pressed in a basket press is the cake that is left over As the press presses the wine out of the grapes it compacts the skins and seeds into a big mass that looks like a huge birthday cake This cake is removed with a forklift and used for compost I will post pictures of these cakes to the show website if you want to see what they look like Just look for this segment under the daily taste link at the top of the page As Father s Day approaches I will be creating a page on the show website called Father s Day there I will post great wine gift ideas for all of the wine loving dads out there I encourage you to go to www obsessedwithwine net if you need a good idea for a special wine gift for Father s Day

Listen to our podcast on podcasting success!