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34 WINES&VINES June 2017 WINEMAKING of berries and juice. The improve- ments have definitely increased our efficiency and overall quality from what I've seen already." Travis Awe, cellar master at Antica Napa Valley, said the winery has been working with Prospero Equipment Corp., which imports equipment from Italian supplier CMA. The winery was one of the first in the United States to try CMA's Dream destemmer, which also uses a centrifugal destemming action. "Right off the bat we real- ized what a great machine it was, as it only sent out perfect berries at the other end." But with it being brand new, there were a few issues. "We gave a list of what we would like to see done to the machine to improve it, and they came and took our first one away right after harvest," Awe said via email. "We received a brand new machine in the middle of 2016 with the majority of the recommen- dations done. We had a great har- vest in 2016, and the quality of the fruit coming out of the destemmer and sorter was fantastic." Awe said the winery also in- vested in a new CMA peristaltic pump with a larger diameter so it can move more grapes. "We find this is the most gentle way for us to transport the fruit to our fermentors," he said. "Our main concern, as always, has been keeping the quality of the fruit as high as possible going into tank while still keeping up with our fruit coming in." Pellenc's destemmer remains another popular choice for new wineries or those seeking to up- grade their crush pad equipment. The owners of the new Materra Cunat Family Vineyards winery in Napa Valley credited the Pellenc with huge improvement in quality in an article by Ted Rieger. "The sorter is easily adjustable to allow us to adapt our sorting based on grape variety, berry size and the condition of the fruit" Washington vintner Charles Smith opened his new Jet City winery and tasting room for the 2015 harvest. Winemaker Bren- non Leighton has his choice of using a Pellenc destemmer or a more traditional Bucher Vaslin destemmer and crusher. Making punchdowns easier and safer The processed grapes are col- lected in 1.5-ton stainless steel bins and placed in a large open area in the Jet City cellar for fer- mentation. During harvest, the winery can be filled with up to 150 of the small fermentors, and handling all of those little open- tops had been a laborious and tedious job. To help speed up the process, Leighton commissioned an automatic punch-down ma- chine for the bins that was built by J&M Specialty Welding in Mab- ton, Wash. The device can be rolled from bin to bin and is easy to operate. "For that many bins, it used to take five guys and one extra person to do the Brix at the height of harvest, and it would take them 2.5 hours to get all the punchdowns and Brix. With this new machine, it takes three peo- ple 1.5 hours, and it improves ALTERNATIVE VESSELS SUPPLIERS Company Phone Website GOfermentor (877) 377-5359 gofermentor.com iPak Wine (805) 550-4729 ipakwine.com Jiangsu Prettech Machinery & Technology Co. 86-519-8525-5001 prettechtank.com La Garde (a division of SML Stainless Steel Group) (800) 263-5170 lagardeinox.com Pasco Poly Inc. (208) 549-1861 pascopoly.com Quality Stainless Tanks (707) 837-2721 qualitystainless.com Sonoma Cast Stone (877) 283-2400 concretewinetanks.com Spec Trellising (800) 237-4594 spectrellising.com For more information about the suppliers listed above, visit winesandvines.com/buyersguide, or see Wines & Vines' 2017 Buyer's Guide.