[Our] White Vinification: Pressing - part 1

[READ THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE: Harvesting part 1 / part 2]

Let's continue our chat with the production manager Ivan Lentini on the white vinification process as performed at Tenute d’Italia. To read the first part of the interview click here!

What happens when the grapes arrive at the winery?

The bunches of grapes are immediately loaded into the press, i.e. a cylindrical machine equipped inside with an air chamber whose increase and decrease in pressure can be controlled: when the grapes are placed inside the press and this chamber is swollen the berries are crushed against the walls to let out the juice (the must): the presence of a grilled wall allows the must to come out perfectly separated from the marc, or pomace.

How big is a press?

The press is a machine available in different formats: ours allows us to load about 30 quintals (3000 kgs) of grapes.

Is it preferable to work at maximum load or with smaller quantities?

Let's start by saying that if the harvest is a traumatic moment for the grapes, the moment of pressing undoubtedly represents the peak of the stress to which we subject the fruit.  So the general rule when it comes to wine is that we should always minimize the trauma which our product undergoes at every stage of its processing: during the pressing cycle, the chamber in which the grapes are introduced rotates on itself (to facilitate the distribution of the grapes inside) therefore the fewer grapes we introduce, the greater the possibility of their being knocked about inside the press, causing an uncontrolled crushing of the berries.

Our goal is to preserve the integrity of the wine grape with a full load, so that we can have maximum control of the pressing.

[TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALMENT]