Press days can be long, requiring a number of steps to get wine from the fermenter, decanted off of the skins, and the skins into the press. But it is also one of the most fulfilling days of the wine season.
As my love and wine co-conspirator, Beth, says:
On press day, your relationship with the wine changes and you start to understand it more intimately. Once the wine has been pressed, you know more about its it-ness and structure and character and aromas. You feel more connected to it and there’s still so much excitement (and still so much wonder) about the future of this wine and your relationship with it.
When your goal is to truly create something beautiful, the press process takes time and takes all your energy and takes your undivided attention. It is undeniably exciting and thrilling, and you’ll end up wet and sticky and sore and tired AF at the end of the day. Everything has led up to this, it’s hard but wonderfully fun work, and it is glorious.
The best wines have stories - not just the story of the producer and the site and the family history, but more intimately…the story of how you perceive the wine, how its entry and mid-palate, and finish (its beginning, middle, and end) conspire to add richness and joy to your life - and those tales all must start at the press.
Winemaking: A Day at the Press