Pressing the first harvest of Barbera from my own vines
I thought I’d add some photos of our first pressing this year.
The harvest brought me about 625lbs of grapes, which translated into about 50 gal of must (juice and skins). I gave some away and ended up with about 30 gal for myself.
The wine is quite tart, since I harvested a bit early to prevent bird damage from causing sour rot to spread to all the clusters. So, I am doing bench-trials to determine the best way to handle this.
Click on any photo to enlarge.
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- Everything is sanitized and ready to go.
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- Loading the press, with free-run juice going into the bucket.
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- Operating the press
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- A little too much pressure, and it squirts between the slats
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- Filing up a carboy with freshly pressed juice.
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- A filled carboy, ready for the modified refrigerator.
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- Finished carboys in the refrigerator.
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- Clean up is easiest if done right away.
