Crushing of grapes is
what the foot used to do in winemaking.
Very simply crushing a
grape is not what you may expect. The grapes are not subjected to great pressure
and pulverised. Crushing is a historical word and in wine making terms it is
just enough pressure to gently spit the skin of the berries to allow some of the
juice and pulp to escape.
In Old World
winemaking the grape bunches would be placed in large shallow vats, usually made
of concrete and lined with wax, and the family, estate workers or villagers
would stomp around to crush the berries. This would often be carried out as a
sort of celebration and could even often be called a dance. In the New World
crushing by the foot is usually done as part of a media promotion or festival
and is rarely done on a commercial scale.
Crushing is the first
point of difference in white and red wine making. White grapes are treated far
more delicately than red grapes as chemicals in the grape skins and seeds will
add tannins and bitterness to a white wine and this is undesirable. In a red
wine though we do want the skin chemicals as a red wine without colour and
tannins would not be very exciting nor would it be a red wine.
Modern grape and wine
crushers are attached to a machine called grape "crusher destemmer and is made
from stainless steel. The grapes are fed into a large hopper and then moved into
a revolving perforated drum where the bunches are tumbled and beaten, softly of
course, and the individual berries are dislodged from the bunch stem. This is
the destemming of the bunch. The berries will fall through the perforations in
the drum and then pass through a set of rubber rollers which is where the grapes
are crushed. The crushed grapes then move on to the next part of the winemaking
process which will be different for white and red wines.
Taste
award winning local wines today at ILNAM Estate
ILNAM Estate is
a unique tourist attraction as we are the only winery on
the Tweed. ILNAM Estate Winery is located just 20 minutes from the Gold Coast
Airport, 40 minutes from Surfers Paradise and only 1 hour 20 minutes from
Brisbane.
ILNAM ESTATE WINERY- 750 Carool Road,
Carool NSW- Ph (07) 5590 7703
