The Art of Pressing Grapes into Wine

(All photos by Eric Estling) They are taking pressed wine and putting it into a holding tank which will eventually be put into barrels.

       Early this morning Eric woke up to have a very unique experience. Last night the man who owns Old Growth Cellars, Jim Pastori, offered him a temporary position pressing grapes at his family business (ie: his driveway). Eric was thrilled since he's already a wine aficionado, but the grapes he was pressing just happened to be his favorite type of wine: Petite Syrah. What he discovered is that pressing grapes is not the glamorous work he had envisioned. He walked away covered in wine that splattered on his clothes and hands, staining them dark purple. For his efforts he was rewarded a few bottles to take home of the most superb wine, which tastes even better since he pressed it himself.

This is a big strainer that the grapes are placed in to let the juice run out the side and catch the solid grapes.

This is a barrel that they finished that day. The wine will age in the oak and this allows for the sediment in the wine to settle to the bottom, leaving the ready-to-drink wine at the top.

Full barrels

Two tubs are filled with grapes from the growers in Clarksburg, California. At this stage they have been fermented and are ready to be pressed into wine.

The wine comes out murky here because it's completely raw, straight from the grape without any aging. The workers placed plastic cups under the cascade to taste the fruit of their labor and also to judge the amount of tannins, so as to determine how hard to press the grapes.

Here is the type of wine that Eric pressed that day!
The unlabeled bottle is a blend of Zin and Petite.