Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/90739
CO VER S T OR Y Reports from winemakers Mario Monticelli is the winemaker for Trinchero Napa Valley, the Trinchero family's high-end winery in St. Helena, Calif. He formerly worked with renowned winemaker Philippe Melka on such high-end wines as Vineyard 29 and Quintessa. Monticelli uses a Bucher Vaslin basket press for all his red wines, which sell for up to $95. "We use the free-run juice and evaluate the lightly pressed juice. The hard press is shipped out" to other wineries including the company's second line, Napa Cellars. He says the must has always gone dry by the time he presses it, typically after 20 to 35 days. He gets about 130 gallons per ton from the press (including free-run, of course.) "We could get 20-30 gallons more with a bladder press, but that's not important for us for these wines. Quality is the priority." Highlights • Basket presses are making a comeback, especially for artisanal red wines. • Modern basket presses are easy to clean and sanitize. • Winemakers feel they provide lower solids and tannins as well as fresher fruit flavors. grapes and pressing juice to dumping cake and cleaning the equipment. View video in the Wines & Vines Digital Edition. See a basket press in action, from loading Like others interviewed, Thomas has fully automated controls on the presses. He also ferments to dryness before pressing and uses a cycle time of less than an hour. He admits that he gives up a few gallons per ton of heavy press juice but he doesn't use that anyway. Like Monticelli, Thomas presses his whites (Sauvignon Blanc) elsewhere with a membrane press. "I tried it with whites once, and it was a big pain. You can place the berries in a nylon bas- ket, but it's easier to use a bladder press for them." Thomas finds it best to simply dump grapes into the basket from above rather than shoveling them in. "Get the gate on the tank higher than the basket," he advised. Alternately, an elevator conveyor is the best approach. Using a forklift, Thomas George Estates Winery employees dump a bin of Pinot Noir into a basket press from Carlsen & Associates. Monticelli doesn't use the basket press for whites. "We'd get far lower yields," he said. For white winegrapes, he uses a blad- der press at another winery location. Charles Thomas, winemaker at Quintessa in Napa Valley, Calif., has two basket presses. One is a larger Bucher Vaslin JLB. "We see both better yield and quality as long as we handle the grapes gently. If you do this, you're less likely to get excess tan- nins and excessive solids." He said that the single direction of pressing and lack of shear- ing from tumbling seems to reduce solids and tannins. WINES & VINES NOVEMBER 2012 31 AVIS MANDEL