[Sca-cooks] grape stomping

[Volker Bach]

Am Montag, 15. Mai 2006 06:13 schrieb Stefan li Rous:

> However, with olive oil I see it labeled "extra-virgin", "virgin"
> etc. I've heard that only the top grades are worth exporting to the
> U.S., at least from Europe. However, I don't seem to remember wine
> being graded this way. Simply by area of production, type of grape
> and brand name. Do most wines end up being composed of all, or a
> single one of these grades of grape juice?
> What about fresh grape juice? ie: Concord Grape Juice. Is is composed
> of all these grades? I never see any indication of this on the
> labels, either.

Wine 'grading' has changed a lot in the last 300-or-so years. AFAIK today's 
technology makes juice generation a single process. The whole 'stomping' 
thing was mechanised as early as the 18th century IIRC, and nowadays you have 
presses where the grapes go in at one end and juice comes out at the other. 
Also, the third grade ('Tresterwein' it was called in German) is no longer 
legally for sale in any European country, and I doubt they get away with it 
in New World wineries, either. It's more or less what they make traditional 
grappa out of. That is why everything we get today is traditional 'second 
grade'.

As to olive oil, the top grades are the only kinds exported to anywhere for 
retail. Even the stuff we buy in five-litre canisters at the local Turkish 
greengrocer is graded 'Vergine'. But you can still get the cheap grades - buy 
a jar of pickled Italian anything cheaply :-)

In their eternal quest for new markets for low-grade products (today classed 
as byproducts), olive farmers have now latched on to recent archeological 
discoveries and are marketing their olive oil to artisan smiths as fuel. I 
think the reluctance to buy them for food is mostly because back in the 80s, 
someone sold a non-food-grade batch for food in Spain and Portugal. He didn't 
think it was a big deal, but when you buy "industrial use oil' they don't 
check for contaminants. This batch had some powerful neurotoxins in it, and 
something like 50 people died IIRC. 

They don't sell unripe oil (omphakion) any more either, which is annoying 
because it's almost odourless and perfect for perfumed oils and cosmetic 
applications. 

Giano


	

	
		
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