Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/90739
CO VER S T OR Y Basket Presses Are Big For Reds Boutique winemakers like the gentle touch, Quintessa cellar master and assistant winemaker Benjamin Ochoa drains Cabernet Sauvignon from the Bucher Vaslin JLB to barrel. old fashioned." Ullom added, "Basket presses are quite gentle. We use them for blended reds and Pinot Noir." I He said that press manufacturers have developed excellent automatic systems for applying pressure and made the presses easier to clean. Most use stainless steel rather than the wood slats of old presses, for example. Stainless steel baskets also allow wineries to use the press for both red and white wines, if desired, though most winemakers interviewed don't use basket presses for white wines. Ullom said there is a loss of yield compared to membrane presses, but that is more than compensated by the quality and usefulness of the press. K-J isn't alone. Many leading winemakers use basket presses, and others have developed ways to have membrane presses mimic the action of traditional basket presses. A summary of advantages Anita Oberholster, the cooperative extension specialist in enology at the Department of Viticulture and Enology at 30 WINES & VINES NOVEMBER 2012 t seems that everything old is new again for boutique wineries: gravity feed, no yeast inoculation, fermenting in wood vats or concrete—and, now, basket presses. "It is ironic, is it not?" said Randy Ullom, the head of winemaking for Kendall-Jackson. "We use them every- where. We are even testing cement tanks. It's all quite despite lower yield By Paul Franson the University of California, Davis, summarized the appeal of modern stainless-steel, large-volume basket presses while admitting there are no real metrics available comparing them to other presses. "Several winemakers prefer a basket press for their premi- um wines.…They feel the wines have less solids and extract less of the bitter, rougher phenolics. This leads to fewer steps for clarification, preserving positive aroma profiles and a finer and softer tannin profile due to less phenolic extrac- tion," she said. However, this is all based on general feedback from winemak- ers with no rigorous research. "Scientifically this could possibly be due to the fact that the basket press is a softer press than even the bladder press, resulting in less damage to seeds and thus less extraction from them." She explained, "Seeds contain more low-molecular-weight phe- nolics compared to the skin tannin. These low-molecular-weight phenolics and tannins have a higher bitter-to-astringency ratio than the large-molecular-weight tannins in the skins. Higher con- tribution of skin tannins to wine tannins have been correlated with a softer mouthfeel and finer tannin perception." She added, "There seems a loss of 5%-10% yield using the basket press compared to the bladder press, indicating softer pressing but also lower efficiency. Conversely, the basket press seems to be quicker compared to horizontal presses due to the larger drainage surface." RICK LEW