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Photo view of pressing
day:
First things first. Last year's wine,
some bread and cheese and pastries.
This will make sure the help show up every
time:
This the best investment we made in our
wine room; the motorized crusher de-stemmer. I lost the photos
crushing day, so you'll have to wait for the next batch to
see in use.
The first three rules of wine making:
1) Sanitation 2) Sanitation 3) Sanitation
Jeff and Nick clean and sanitize the equipment:
On the end of the pump we attached a funnel,
wrapped in cheesecloth, and push it down to the bottom of
the macerated grapes. We did not press the cap last night:
We pump out some "Extra virgin"
un pressed juice into a carboy and add some oak chips for
the barrel flavor. This is our super premium wine.
The rest of the wine gets pumped into
the barrels.
We then scoop all the pulp into the press
and push down and fill it till we need the ratchet to press
it for us further.
Barry get's cranking on the one armed
rowing machine.
Bacchus' delight. Don't squeeze too hard.
After pressing the "cake" should
be firm but not rock solid.
DO NOT fluff and repress!
After 30 days or so rack wine from sediment.
An in line filter is a great investment:
Rack the wine again in another 2-3 months
Don't forget to top off the barrels after
racking. Angels steal your wine.
Let the wine age for a minimum of 8 months.
longer if you can. Your patience will be paid off. Keep your
aging room cool but not under 50F.
Jill and Joe follow the first three rules.
A quick soak in a strong metabisulphate
solution:
The wine gets pumped into the 4 bottle
filler and two people fill bottles:
After the filler fills, it gets handed
to Dave the corker.
Everyone has a job; passing clean bottles,
filling, monitoring pump/filler levels, hauling full cases,
wine testing and official heat waver.
Kira puts a different color PVC heat shrink
on each variety for easy identification.
Jeff does the heavy lifting while Barry
supervises.
After the day is done, Relax with a glass
of wine and some friends.
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