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The Press House at New Hall is now able
to process 25 tons of grapes per day and has 12t per hour de-stalking machine,
that separates
the freshly picked grapes from the stalks and leaves (see below)
This means that only the grapes end up
in one of the four grape presses that run during the harvest for about
12 hours per day.
( "Bess" the new 10t Press)
Pressing The Pinot Noir 2001 Light Red Wine.
While grapes are being pressed the juice falls into the
collecting trays under each press. |
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From here it is pumped along pipes to the
Fermentation Room next door (as shown
below)
Where rows stainless steel wine
tanks stand ready to be filled. Once safely inside these tanks, the grapes juice
can be allowed
to start its fermentation. With good temperature control at this stage
the fermentation can last as long as 10 weeks. This cool fermentation
practice, helps to release the full fruity flavours of the grape into
the final wine.
When the fermentation stops the wine starts to settle and forms a
deposit at the bottom of the tank. The clear wine can then be moved into a clean tank to slowly age, ready for bottling
in March.
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Once the wine has been given time to
slowly age in the tank, it has to be checked every few days, until
the wines reaches the correct balance and style and is ready for pre-bottling
filtration (using the filter below)
After this the only thing left to do before the wine is bottled is to pass the wine
through a sterile plate filter. (as seen below) After which a membrane check
filter after this makes sure the wine is completely
sterile before it ends up in the bottle. After the wine is bottled a
cork is added and the bottles are then stored away in the cellars to bottle age
before it ready to be sold
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