Pressing the must was a breeze using Vint Hill’s neumatic press. Cleaning up took longer than pressing. Using the forklift, DJ lifted a fermentation bin and dumped the must into the wooden slat press unit. This unit was then rolled under the neumatic press and the pressing began. At first the free run juice came out. The juice was pumped into a stainless tank. More pressure was increased and more wine flowed. The pressing was automatic. Set the pressure on the gauge and let the machine do the work. We were pressing two Cabs from California. One was the Cab that we are making.
After pressing and cleanup we tasted the two cabs from their tanks. Although made from the same sourced grapes on the same day, both Cabs already tasted different. The difference was in part due to different yeasts used in fermentation. The wine will remain in the tanks for a few days during which time heavier particles can settle to the bottom.
Kathy and I helped with another press a couple days later. This time we were pressing California Zinfandel. The Zinfandel must was quite liquidy and splattered during pressing. It did not require the same amout of pressure as did the Cab. Clean up took a bit longer though.
View the short slideshow of the Cab press.
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