[Sca-cooks] grape stomping

[Volker Bach]

Am Sonntag, 14. Mai 2006 09:21 schrieb Stefan li Rous:

> I know today that machinery is probably used almost everywhere to get
> the juice from grapes for making wine. Was the juice actually
> extracted from the grapes, in period or "traditionally" actually done
> by filling vats with the grapes and then by people climbing into the
> vats and stomping on the grapes?

AFAIK the extraction was a two-step process: First, the grapes were put into 
the vat and stomped. In the process, they would be turned into a gooey pulp 
rather than discrete units. The juice flowing out at this stage would not be 
a large quantity, but made the choicest wine. In stage two, the pulp was 
placed in a wine press and sueezed. That created much more juice, but of a 
somewhat lower quality. Finally, the squeezed pulp would be watered, creating 
the base for the lowest quality wine. 

There is a winery in South Germany where they still do the stomping. It is 
part of an annual harvest festival, Roman-style, and the wine thus made is 
sold mostly to local enthusiasts. I'll have to check if I can find the 
address, it was on TV a few years ago.

Giano


	

	
		
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