Yesterday was pretty busy, so I put off pressing the wine until today. Early in the afternoon I set up the basket press and dumped the contents of the fermenter into a nylon pressing bag in the press.

Harvest Day +12, 1:20 PM: In the press

Normally, you don’t dump the entire contents of the fermented into the press, instead leaving the grotty stuff at the bottom (spent yeast and such) behind. But since I’d done extended maceration, there was no longer any separation between the wine and the cap—it was all mixed up together. Because of this, there was very little actual pressing necessary; in fact, I probably could have done it by hand.

Harvest Day +12, 1:20 PM: In the press, before fitting the press blocks

I only got between a pint and a quart more once I put the pressing blocks on top of the bag and ratcheted down on it. I ended up with exactly three gallons of wine.

Harvest Day +12, 1:35 PM: The press is done, 3 gallons of new wine

Then I started the Australian Shiraz kit wine, which, BTW, I’ve decided to call Zardoz. I’m going to have fun with the label! Just before putting in the yeast, I added the nylon pressing bag with the used skins in it. This may make clarifying the wine a bit harder, but it should make it more interesting. Then I added the malolactic culture to the Syrah and put both wines in the fermenting chamber with the temperature set to 75° F. (BTW,

Harvest Day +12, 3:00 PM: The new wine ready for malolactic fermentation; the kit wine beginning fermentation with the used skins (still in the pressing bag)