The Wine Press and the Cellar: A Manual for the Wine-Maker and the Cellar-Man

by Emmet H. Rixford

Stemmers.—This is usually effected in California by the use of the common hand stemmer, though some large establishments are using a stemmer run by steam or horse-power. The common stemmer consists of an oblong shallow box or frame, six or eight feet long by two wide, or any convenient size, and about six inches deep, with a coarse wire netting or grating stretched across the bottom. This grating is usually made of heavy galvanized iron wire, with ¾ inch or inch meshes. Instead of having the grating extend the whole length, a portion at one end may be floored with wood, upon which a box of grapes can be placed without injuring the grating. The only objection to this stemmer is that the grape juice comes in contact with the metal of the grating, and it is a well known fact that nearly, if not all, of the baser metals are corroded by the acids; it would be better to replace the wire with a wooden grating, as in France ([Fig. 3].).

How to Remove the Stems.—The grapes are dumped from the boxes directly into the stemmer, and the workman seizes as many as he can easily manage with both hands, and rubs and rolls them to and fro upon the wire grating, and the berries, as they are rubbed off, fall through the meshes, and the stems remain in the hand. The few grapes that may remain are removed by raising the mass of stems and forcibly throwing them two or three times upon the grating. Sometimes the stems, with the few grapes clinging to them, are turned over to another workman, who, with a hay fork, tosses them about upon another grating till all the berries are removed. The stemmer ought to be situated over the hopper of the crusher, so that the grapes will fall directly into it, as they are separated from the stems.

Crushing.—It is generally considered essential to crush the grapes whether stemmed or not, although in some special cases, to be hereafter noted, crushing is omitted.

Methods of Crushing.—It is well known that in Europe the grapes are usually crushed by being trodden with the feet of men, usually barefooted, but sometimes in wooden shoes, and many of the best writers of to-day are of the opinion that the wine is better when the grapes have been well trodden with the bare feet, for by thoroughly rubbing the skins and pounding them into a pulp without breaking the seeds, they think that more color and aroma are developed than can be obtained by simply crushing them, as in a machine, and afterwards fermenting. Although the practice of treading is the more common one in Europe, yet there are exceptions, and in some places the crushing is done by rollers and with satisfactory results. In California we are accustomed to regard the treading of grapes as an antiquated practice, and a relic of a past age, and it is almost universally discarded, being practiced only occasionally and by Europeans, who have not yet wholly fallen into our methods of practice. Those who are fastidious in this matter may rest assured, that if they will drink California wine, they run but very small risk of imbibing a liquid which a man has had his feet in.

Aerating the Must.—There seems to be some confusion on this subject, for some claim that the must is better exposed to the air, and prepared for fermentation, by treading. This may be true of treading in the vat during fermentation, but simply treading the grapes to crush them does not aerate the must as much as crushing with rollers, for in the latter case the juice falls through a considerable distance in a finely divided form, which thoroughly exposes it to the air.

Fig. 4.

Crusher.

Crushers.—The machine generally employed consists of two rollers made of wood, iron, or other suitable material, 6 or 8, or even more, inches in diameter, geared together so that they revolve in opposite directions and towards each other, and so that the grapes will be drawn between them from above. The rollers run near each other, but do not touch, so that the grapes will be crushed, and the seeds remain unbroken. It is operated by one man turning a crank, either attached to one of the rollers or to a pinion. [Figure 4] represents such a crusher, except that in the figure the rollers are open-work, instead of solid, as they should be. It is surmounted by a hopper which allows the grapes to fall between the rollers as they revolve, and the whole apparatus should be so placed that the pomace may fall into the fermenting vats, or be easily conveyed to them or to the press, accordingly as it is to be made into red or white wine.

Some stemmers have corrugated instead of plain rollers, but there is no advantage in this, and unless they are very nicely adjusted to the motion of the cog wheels, they may break the seeds, which is always considered injurious to the wine.