Winemaking
Pressing
Extracting juice under pressure — before fermentation for white wine, after it for red.
Overview
For white wine, pressing separates juice from skins before fermentation. For red, it extracts the remaining wine from fermented skins.
The gentlest fraction runs free under gravity and is generally the highest quality. Press wine is more tannic and phenolic, and is usually kept separate so the blend can be controlled.
Whole-bunch pressing, where uncrushed bunches go straight into the press, is gentler still because the stems form natural drainage channels.
Sources
Sources consulted
- WSET educational materials and the Systematic Approach to Tasting — Wine & Spirit Education Trust
More in winemaking
Winemaking
Fermentation
Yeast converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide — the step that makes wine wine.
Winemaking
How red wine is made
Fermenting grape juice in contact with the skins, which is where colour and tannin come from.
Winemaking
How white wine is made
Pressing the juice off the skins before fermentation, then fermenting the clear juice.