Located in Woodinville, Washington the Martedi winery is hard to resist when you learn its owned and operated by 4 Italian brothers and family. So, understandably there was no way I was going to refuse an invite to help crush grapes... ( with my feet?)
Joseph Miglino the creator and head winemaker is nothing short of brilliant when it come to crafting the finest of wines, and one perk of the job was being allowed to taste EVERYTHING!!
Once they've decided upon the kind of wine they want to make they harvest that kind of grape and begin to shovel the freshest most plum and sweet smelling grapes you can imagine into a this giant machine.
This machine then begins to separate out all the large stems and leaves from the grapes. However, it also has a second job...it also gently crushes the grapes just enough to break the skin but not crush the grapes completely which would release too much tannin.
I'll admit I was a little bummed out that there wasn't going to be any crushing grapes with my feet, lol.
As the machine works the crushed grapes are dispensed down a ramp, through which we do a by hand cleaning of the grapes. Picking out any large stems and leaves that may have slipped through.
The smell at this point is AMAZING and the juice is so incredibly sweet.
After we inspected them, the juice and grapes entered another machine where they are crushed again and dispensed into a large holding bins.
Here they add certain ingredients to balance and control fermentation ...they have it down to a science.
These containers are not filled to the top due to the natural gases released by the grapes which will cause the batch to swell.
After the day of fun...work ...no it was more fun we enjoyed the labors with buffet of assorted cheeses a other yummy snacks.
Hope you enjoyed this little post, I appreciate your time and attention.
-Cheers!!