Can I press red wine grapes the day they are picked?

[alan molstad]

Lets say I don't de-stem or crush the grapes, but go straight from the field to the wine press?

In other words, treat red wine grapes like they were white?

 

[Johnd]

You certainly can. Assuming you do the same with the juice, settle and ferment it, you’ll end up with a white / pink wine, poor flavor and body, and you’ll have wasted the best part of the grape, the grape.

 

[cmason1957]

You would most likely make a whitish wine. Many red grapes have white juice, the red color comes mostly from the skins. I always crush my white grapes as well.

 

[VinesnBines]

Depending on the variety, you will end up with a white or rose'. There are instances where this practice is desired or necessary. I know of a wine maker who had his pinot noir on the verge of bunch rot. He pressed and came out with a pinot noir de gris that is a best seller so now he makes that vintage on a regular basis. Some hybrid reds can get funky if left on the skins (I forget which at the moment) but pressing early or first is desirable. It might be that you don't have time for the punch downs and skin fermentation want want to go straight to closed vessel fermentation.

Give us a few more details and let us know what you decide.

 

[alan molstad]

my situation.
I live in northern North Dakota and I have 60+ Valiant grape vines.

This fall was the first time I have tried to make wine, and I ran into a situation.
I dont have a crusher/de-stemmer and so I did all of that work by hand.

12 hours of standing in the same spot,
Never again!

I'm retired so I will never have the money to get a crusher de-stemmer, so thats out.

Thus the idea I have for next year is to cut way, way, way back on the amount of work I do.

So Im thinking that rather than taking the stems off all, and rather than crushing all, I only de-stem and crush a smaller amount of the grapes, and the rest I take to the press.

I still would have some skins in the juice for fermenting, but most of my grapes would go from field to press.

 

[Sailor323]

Champagne, a sparkling white wine, is made from Pinot Noir grapes. On the other hand, there are teinturier grapes, red/black grapes that have red juice. Maréchal Foch, for example. It makes a fine, light, fruity wine when pressed right after picking.

 

[VinesnBines]

Don't give up on a crusher/destemmer. Used ones can be found at a bargain. Just start locking and be diligent. I got one that had been motorized for $400. I got another in a package deal but I'm in Virginia so I can't share with you. You might find someone that will let you use a crusher; wine club, small vineyard. Anyway, your idea is a good one and a valid reason.

 

[Johnd]

my situation.
I live in northern North Dakota and I have 60+ Valiant grape vines.

This fall was the first time I have tried to make wine, and I ran into a situation.
I dont have a crusher/de-stemmer and so I did all of that work by hand.

12 hours of standing in the same spot,
Never again!

I'm retired so I will never have the money to get a crusher de-stemmer, so thats out.

Thus the idea I have for next year is to cut way, way, way back on the amount of work I do.

So Im thinking that rather than taking the stems off all, and rather than crushing all, I only de-stem and crush a smaller amount of the grapes, and the rest I take to the press.

I still would have some skins in the juice for fermenting, but most of my grapes would go from field to press.

If you want to make your red wine traditionally, that is, fermenting the wine on the skins and seeds, you could press the grapes instead of using a crusher / destemmer, and put the pressed skins back into the juice that you pressed out. Effectively, you're just using the press to pop the grapes and smash them up a bit. From there, just follow the normal process of fermenting down to near 1.000, harvest your free run wine, press the skins to get your press run wine out, and you're off to the races.

 

[winemaker81]

I have a very ancient manual crusher that works fine. The modern equivalent is about $300 USD brand new, but as @VinesnBines said, you can find them used. Try Facebook Marketplace.

 

[crushday]

I believe that @Snafflebit has used a system of destemming that employs two standard 13” square milk crates. Perhaps others…

@Johnd has a grand idea also and one I envisioned immediately upon reading your original post. What you don’t have in equipment and be made up with creativity, intuition and good old elbow grease. it will make your wine more satisfying for sure.

 

[Rice_Guy]

for sixty vines I would look for something mechanical, the milk crate is excellent for filling a seven gallon big mouth bubbler, ,,,, humm I could dance with the wife to crush the grapes

has used a system of destemming that employs two standard 13” square milk crates. Perhaps others…

 

[Snafflebit]

I believe that @Snafflebit has used a system of destemming that employs two standard 13” square milk crates. Perhaps others…

Yep, I grab the stem of the cluster and put my other hand on top of the cluster and press down on the cluster sitting on the upside down portion of a plastic milk crate, then pull the stem towards my body. That will get the stem clean in 2-3 passes. It is still work, but it has to be faster than picking berries off by hand. I eventually started renting a destemmer/crusher but it is not cheap relative to the crop from 60 vines

 

[alan molstad]

I believe that @Snafflebit has used a system of destemming that employs two standard 13” square milk crates. Perhaps others…

@Johnd has a grand idea also and one I envisioned immediately upon reading your original post. What you don’t have in equipment and be made up with creativity, intuition and good old elbow grease. it will make your wine more satisfying for sure.

HI...

what I did, and will NEVER do again was to do what I saw in a YouTube video.
It was to use an upside down milk crate and rub the bunches of grapes on it.

Never again....thats a young man's sport!

im retired and thats why I need to come up with a way to do this quickly and with little extrra effort.

 

[alan molstad]

If you want to make your red wine traditionally, that is, fermenting the wine on the skins and seeds, you could press the grapes instead of using a crusher / destemmer, and put the pressed skins back into the juice that you pressed out. Effectively, you're just using the press to pop the grapes and smash them up a bit. From there, just follow the normal process of fermenting down to near 1.000, harvest your free run wine, press the skins to get your press run wine out, and you're off to the races.

This!
This is a new idea to me...
and I like it!

I think this might be my answer...

Thanks..
This gives me a lot to think about and a lot of hope I can still do the fermenting on skins

 

[Snafflebit]

Or, just press the grapes and MAYBE let the juice sit on skins for a day, strain out the solids and ferment that juice. Make a rosé.

We don't know the type of grape you are growing, and some are easier to press fresh than others Edit: I see they are Valiant, they are slipskin and are harder to press fresh because of the skin behavior.

 

[alan molstad]

We don't know the type of grape you are growing,

valiant grapes

 

[alan molstad]

Lets say I take my grapes fresh from the vine, and press them.
I will end up with a nice wad of skins.
Lets say I take the pressed skins and dump them back into the juice.

Then its just like normal correct?

 

[Cynewulf]

Lets say I take my grapes fresh from the vine, and press them.
I will end up with a nice wad of skins.
Lets say I take the pressed skins and dump them back into the juice.

Then its just like normal correct?

You’ll still have the stems and will have to press a second time. If you’re going to do that why not just crush them by foot and save the trouble of the first press?

 

[winemaker81]

Lets say I take my grapes fresh from the vine, and press them.
I will end up with a nice wad of skins.
Lets say I take the pressed skins and dump them back into the juice.

Then its just like normal correct?

Honestly, you've just wasted time pressing the juice as you're going to need to press the pomace (grape solids) when fermentation is done.

Let's backup and start from scratch.

You have a red grape. You have 2 choices: 1) crush, ferment, and press to produce a red wine. 2) crush, press, and ferment just the juice to produce a blush or white wine.

The critical question: What do YOU want? If you want red, do #1. If you want a white or blush, do #2. If you want both, split the batch and do both. You are in control here -- do what you want!

Side note -- if you split the batch, add the pomace from the juice pressing to the red wine, as the pulp has a lot of goodness left in it.

 

[alan molstad]

The critical question: What do YOU want? If you want red, do #1. If you want a white or blush

You ask a good question.

The truth is, Im so new that I dont have enough experience to know what I really want.

What i KNOW for 100% sure I want is that I NEVER want to spend 12 hours standing in one place as I rub grapes against an upside-down milk crate...

I never want to do that again....

I would love to be able to go from vine to press as it would really speed things up...
and I do kinda like a wine that is not so dark in flavor or color anyway...

so far the idea of going straight to the press has a lot going for it.