Pressing the Grapes
Free Run & Pressed Wine
On Friday, May 12, 2017 the fermenting Cabernet Sauvignon, belonging to one of our barrel club owners, had reached 2.0 degrees brix, indicating that the wine must was ready to go to press. So, in the afternoon we pressed the wine in our 300 liter stainless hydraulic basket press.
The ferment over the past 5 days had gone as expected, reaching a temperature of around 80 degrees Farenheit with good CO2 production. Starting brix was around 21, which will give us a finished ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of around 12%.
The “Free Run” wine coming out of the press was fantastic. It was remarkably smooth with some nice soft tannin already felt in the wine, even before barrel aging. The color was a really dark purple, though the pics don’t really do it any justice.
The “Pressed Wine” was rich with tannin and even darker color. We paid attention not to over-press as there were an incredible amount of seeds in the must and we didn’t want to get too much astringency.
The resulting mix was pumped back into stainless steel tanks, where it will rest until fermentation is complete and we can rack off the gross lees (sediment) in a few days.
A Few Pics
Showing the Pressing
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