October 27, 2003 The Press Welcome to the Press. On Saturday, October 25^th, we pressed 133 gallons of must and obtained over 90 gallons of wine! 1) This time-honored process of pressing the wine started with cleaning all the containers and equipment that would come in contact with the must and wine. 2) Next, we assembled and secured the press and formed a bucket brigade to transfer the must from the holding tanks to the press. 3) When the partially emptied tank was light enough, we carried it to the press and emptied the must directly into the press. 4) After the press was filled with must, water was forced into a big rubber bladder inside the press, which created pressure against the must and forced it against the filter. This caused wine to begin to ooze out between the oak slats of the press. 5) As the wine collected in a tray at the base of the press, we scurried to collect the pressed wine in buckets. 6) Finally, these buckets were poured back into the clean tanks. The wine will remain in the tanks for about six weeks while the spent yeast (the leas) settles to the bottom. 7) The remains of the must (pomace), which are the seeds and the skins, were removed from the press and placed in compost bins. 8) The process was repeated until all the must in the tanks had been processed and refilled with the resulting wine. The process is shown in the accompanying photographs. Key dates to mark on your calendar: Saturday, November 1^st, beginning at 9:30 AM, we will press the remainder of the must. Saturday, November 20^th: We will bottle one 60 gallon barrel of the 2002 Wine Coop vintage. We want to be sure that the 2002 Coop members have some wine to help celebrate the coming holiday season. This is labor intensive. Saturday, December 13^th: Carmen & Gary will host a Wine Tasting Party for the 2003 batches of wine. The tasting data will help us determine what wines to combine in the oak barrels the next day. Don’t miss this event! Sunday, December 14^th: We will move the wine from the tanks in Mark’s garage to the new oak barrels in Tim’s basement using plastic tubing. As usual, we appreciate all the help we can get with all the processes of the wine production.
Setting up the press	Inspecting the water bladder	Inserting the filter screen
After the bucket brigade, we pour the remaining must from the tank	The press is filled	The metal lid in bolted onto the press
The process is about to begin	Water is used to inflate the bladder	The bladder presses against the wine
Filtered wine flows as the bladder inflates	The tanks are cleaned in preparation for the wine	Then the wine is poured into the tanks
The brilliantly colored wine will age in the tanks until barreled	Mark checks the clarity of the wine	Cindy tastes the fruits of our labor
All that remains are the seeds and the skins	The press must be cleaned	The rich grape pomace is recycled
Pomace goes back to the earth for next year’s crop	We celebrated the harvest and pressing while at a neighbor’s party	It seemed to change Gary’s hair color