During Emma and Aneurin’s stay we helped our friend Filippo to make some wine. A few days earlier at “Tre Cancelle” we had harvested all the grapes from the vines that grow between the olive trees. This year we had not given the vines the care and attention that they deserved, however there was still a reasonably bountiful crop.
Filippo took the crates of grapes back to his house where he crushed them in a large vat. Here they remained for 5 days, Filippo took care to stir and turn the grapes both morning and night .
On the 5th day it was time to actually press the grapes. We helped to scoop up the mashed grapes and put them into the centre of the old manual press or “torchio”.
The press works on a square thread on a ratchet mechanism which you gradually wind down until the grapes begin to be squeezed.
The juice runs down and is collected in buckets and transferred into 2 x 56 litre demi-johns.
The tops are then sealed and the mixture is left to settle before being siphoned off a week or so later. Aneurin very much enjoyed helping.
A job well done !!!
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January 25, 2013 at 10:17 pm
Geri Bianchi Bouchard
Looks wonderful. Enjoy the bounty.