Do you squeeze the lees?

[wctisue]

I racked the CC Austrian Zweigelt from the primary to secondary today and my, my there were a lot of gross lees left in the primary. Certainly this muck had to contain a lot of the thick, chewy, gooey, concentrated flavor so I used a dish towel and collander to drain the liquid from the solids. I had to squeeze it very similar to squeezing the mesh bag holding the remainder of the grape skins.


Does anyone else routinely squeeze the lees??????


Wayne

 

[Wade E]

Nope and I hope that dish towel was good and sanitized well.

 

[Tom]

You wanna leave all that behind. Nothing good is left in there. It can also lead to off flavors.

 

[vcasey]

That first racking I am pretty aggressive, but like Wade & Tepe I don't use a dish towel to squeeze out every drop. I would use a press to get everything out of those skins Having just put this wine to bed for some aging, I think you'll be pleased and a couple of years.
VC