How does the juice come out of the grape?
The grape harvest began on September 4th! We are now out in the vineyards every day with our harvest team and the machine to bring our precious grapes safely and soundly to the winery. But how does the juice actually come out of the grapes?
“Totally simple,” thinks the layman.
"Jump with both feet into a tub full of grapes and stomp away."
That's right. That's how it used to be. And this type of pressing actually has a huge advantage (besides the pleasant foot massage): even if a 120 kg person jumps on the grapes with a lot of momentum, he won't crush the grape seeds. And that's what matters, because crushed grape seeds are definitely not the aroma we want in wine (washed feet, on the other hand, are!).
Since things obviously couldn't stay that way, we tinkered and developed. Today, a wine press is almost like giving birth. Instead of an open vat, there is a tightly closed stainless steel housing that looks like an elongated tank from the outside. And instead of a millstone, there is a kind of cushion inside the wine press. This is filled with air from the outside. This pressure can be finely adjusted as required. And just as the uterus contracts and squeezes the baby out due to a lack of space, this cushion also acts and reduces the space in the press. Our birth of a new vintage!
There are four sieve tubes in our press. At first the grapes are milling around these tubes and aren't quite ready to get going. Eventually they are round and plump and the juice is well protected. But then comes the cushion! Little by little it reduces the space and so the grapes are pressed - very gently but firmly - against the four sieve tubes until they burst and the juice shoots into the drain pipes.
Video: The freshly pressed grape juice flows out of the press.
The mass that remains inside the press is called pomace. Of course, this is not completely squeezed out by inflating the cushion once. This is why the fairground effect occurs: the whole press rotates – hey presto – several times through 360 degrees. This loosens the pomace and changes the position of the berries. Then comes the cushion for the second pressing cycle! The cushion is inflated again and again over several hours, and this way every possible drop is squeezed out.
There are wines that are really easy to press. Our Scheurebe, for example. Silvaner, on the other hand, tends to be a bit stubborn . It loves to clog up the membranes in the sieves. Then we have to clean them... and that's a real mess. Anyone who wants to bathe in wine (or a mixture) is welcome to join us next autumn. And anyone who wants a stressful job should apply to work in the technical department of wine press manufacturers. During the harvest season, they offer an overnight, 24-hour customer service . Because when the press isn't pressing, our blood pressure shoots up as the pressure in the press drops.
This precious machine sits idle for 10 to 11 months of the year, just taking up space. In the few weeks of the year when we need it, it cannot break down and nothing can go wrong. Because a whole year's work rests in it.
Photo: Wine press “Europress” at the Graf von Weyher winery
Our press cost a good 100,000 euros, holds 4 tons and has the footprint of a storage room (approx. 4 square meters). That makes it a cute little machine . When Jürgen was working on a winery in New Zealand, the 100-strong team took a group photo - IN the wine press!
Incidentally, particularly delicate feet are used to produce the highest quality champagne and red wines - or the modern equivalent. This is because not as much pressure is needed here, as the mash has been fermenting for a longer time and is therefore softer. These presses work on the principle of the old basket presses, i.e. the mash is poured into a vertical press and then the pressure comes from above (but not too much, of course!).
Depending on the grape variety, different amounts of juice come out of the press. We generally get around 750 ml of juice from one kilogram of grapes. A big exception is the Trockenbeerenauslese. The grapes dry out on the vine (as the name suggests), and when we harvest this sweet delicacy, we only get around 200 ml of juice from one kilogram of grapes.
So, now let's go and wash our feet.
Your hard-pressed counts
Wieder ein suuuuper schöner Bericht!!! Vielen Dank. Es ist eine reine Freude, eure Mails zu lesen. 👍😂
Das haben sie so wundervoll beschrieben und im Video dargestellt. Sehr gut. Ich wohne im Anbeigebiet Ahr. Ich müßte es wissen. Aber das war einfach sehr gut
Liebe Herrn Graf,
wir freuen uns über jede Nachricht von Ihnen.
Diese Mails sind sehr informativ.
Wir bewundern immer wieder wie viel Arbeit Sie sich bei der Gestaltung machen.
Es macht einfach Lust wieder in die Pfalz zu fahren und Sie zu besuchen. Nicht nur der Wein schmeckt, sondern auch die angebotenen Kuchen und Brotzeiten.
Vielen Dank für Ihren Einsatz und wir hoffen, dass Sie weiterhin so tolle Newsletter versenden.
Liebe Grüße aus dem Allgäu
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