Grape processing and production of must

The grapes are processed immediately after arriving from the vineyard. After the grapes were harvested, they were crushed and pressed. The grape berries are pressed to extract the juice, i.e. the must. In old times, men used to stomp the grapes in order to obtain the juice. They did it in two ways, either by treading directly on the grapes in the vats, or by treading the grapes placed in cotton sacks. Must obtained from red varieties by that procedure would serve for the production of an excellent semi-red wine called “šiler”, which was bought primarily by innkeepers from Slavonian villages.

Immediately after the grapes are crushed, the main difference in processing of white and red wines is noticeable. While white varieties are immediately pressed, i.e. the must is immediately extracted, the black grapes’ mash is poured into vats to allow the contact of the berry juice and skins in order to extract the compounds that give the recognisable red colouring to wine.

At the turn of the 20th century, grape processing was made much easier by the industrially produced tools. Instead of treading the grapes, grape crushers were used. Then the destemmer appeared, removing the berries directly from stems.

Wine press was used to extract juice from the berries. Wooden wine presses were used in the end of the 19th century. Later on, iron presses came into production.

Source:

Károly, Lábadi: Drávaszögi ábécé, Eszék-Budapest, 1996

Károly, Lábadi: Boranyja, Beli Manastir, 2007

Private collection of Mrs. Margita Sabo from Zmajevac.