Pressing White

[JohnT]

For some reason, my chardonnay wines are always loaded with tannins to the point that the wine is rather harsh.

Currently, My procedure is to crush/destem and then go immediatly to the press. I press under rather low, for a rather long time. Once the white is out of the press, I yeast it and allow to ferment.

I toured a winery several weeks ago. Their process for chardonnay is very interesting and I am planing to give it a try.

They do NOT crush/destem! They throw whole grape clusters into the press and then lightly press for several hours. When asked why, they said that the crusher/destemmer simply grinds up the grape skins, stems, and seeds. This results in additional tannins in the wine that they want to avoid.

They also chill down the resulting pressed juice and perform a racking before they ferment. This, they say, also will serve to soften the wine.


Any thoughts????

 

[winemaker_3352]

hmm - interesting. I did a seyval and chardonel this year - i did not destem - but i did crush. The crusher i have is a very old one - and it didn't break the stems or the seeds - it basically burst the grape skin.

Then i pressed the pulp slowly for a long time. I didn't chill the must - as i don't have a way to do that right now.

If mine comes out a little harsh - i might try that the next time - just press the grapes from the get go.