Wineeng 2015 Historical and Future Developments in Grape Pressing

WineEng 2015 The Australian Wine Research Institute

Historical and future developments in grape pressing

Simon Nordestgaard The Australian Wine Research Institute [email protected] Outline The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Pressing for white and red wine production . Ancient presses . Batch presses . Continuous presses . Future presses

Pressing in white and red wine production (simplified) The Australian Wine Research Institute

WHITE WINE PRODUCTION RED WINE PRODUCTION

Destemming Destemming

Crushing Crushing

Pressing Fermentation

Fermentation Pressing Pressing in white and red wine production (simplified) The Australian Wine Research Institute

Batch pressing basics WHITE WINE PRODUCTION

Pressure

Destemming

Time Crushing fractions Separate Separate

Rupture order of grape pulp cells Pressing

1. Intermediate zone • Moderate acidity • Slightly higher sugar 2. Central zone • Highest acidity Fermentation 3. Peripheral zone • Lowest acidity, • Skins high in potassium, phenolics and aroma precursors Ancient Egypt – torsion press The Australian Wine Research Institute

Images from Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep’s tomb at Saqqara – 5th dynasty (c. 2494 – 2345 BC)

Images from Nakht’s tomb at Thebes – 18th dynasty (c. 1543-1292 BC) Ancient Greece/Rome – lever press with windlass The Australian Wine Research Institute

Described by Cato, c. 160 BC (White, K.D. (1975) Farm equipment of the Roman world. Cambridge Press)

Video based on a press found at the “Villa of the Mysteries” near Pompeii (c. 79 AD) (www.museogalileo.it) Ancient Greece/Rome – lever press with screw The Australian Wine Research Institute

counterweight

Described by Pliny c. 77 AD (White, K.D. (1975) Farm equipment of the Roman world. Cambridge Press)

Lever press, c.1200 AD Lever press c. 1770 AD Lever press with counterweight (Chateau Clos de Vougeot) (Musée des arts et métiers (Pico wine museum, Azores) traditionels à Salles-la-Source)

Ancient Greece/Rome - direct screw presses The Australian Wine Research Institute

Small presses described by Hero, c. 62 AD and a heavy-duty press described by Pliny c. 77 AD (White, K.D. (1975) Farm equipment of the Roman world. Cambridge Press)

c. 1702 (Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer) Pressing at Turckheim – Alsace (Lix 1889) Internal iron screw – c. 1830 The Australian Wine Research Institute

Red wine press used in Bordeaux, c. 1860s Screw fixed into base, nut moves (Thudichum and Dupré 1872) Ratcheting press nut – 1869 (Mabille) The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Compound leverage . can press large batches . Nut progresses as lever is both pushed and pulled

(French web video) Ratcheting press nut – 1874 (Marmonier) The Australian Wine Research Institute

. + Multispeed

(French web video) Spring pressure accumulators instead of blocks The Australian Wine Research Institute

. No longer need pile of (elastic) wooden blocks that are labour intensive to assemble/disassemble for larger presses

One piece pressing head with spring Piling wooden blocks pressure accumulators (circled) Automation – late 1800s early 1900s The Australian Wine Research Institute

Cake crumbler

Hydraulic press

Line-shaft driven press

Mobile baskets Horizontal (box) plate press – 1800s The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Joseph Vaslin’s horizontal press of 1856, opened at the bottom for easier emptying

Benoît’s Trojan horizontal press c. 1839 (Guyot 1865)

Unknown horizontal press Vaslin horizontal press., c. 1850s (Musée du Vignoble Nantais) (Musée de la vigne et du vin d'Anjou) Horizontal (cylindrical) plate press – c.1924 The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Joseph Vaslin’s 1920s cylindrical horizontal plate press automated crumbling

Vaslin press price list CMMC-Vaslin press, c. 1950s (Musée de la vigne et du vin d'Anjou) (Constructions Méca-Metalliques Chalonnaises Vaslin brochure)

He was the grandson of the Joseph Vaslin that invented the bottom emptying box press Horizontal plate press – operation The Australian Wine Research Institute

Grapes

Filling

Internal rings and chains between plates (Officina Meccanica B&G)

Pressing

(except spindle)

Crumbling

(except spindle) (French web video) Horizontal plate press – advances & limitations The Australian Wine Research Institute

Juice flow rate Pressure A B Increase pressures set-point to avoid low flow rate

Improved draining Juice flow rate based self-optimisation can rotate cage while loading via fixed annular door(s) Inferred from speed of pressure reduction after tightening (e.g. AB), (c. 1977 – model shown c. 1984) c. 1984 (hypothesised profile only)

. 3 PT Largest plate press I have seen is 12.5 m . Bucher acquired CMMC-Vaslin in 1986 . Last Vaslin plate press built in 2001

Pressure at plate is not transmitted well to cake core limiting scaleability (with reasonable pressures, crumblings)

Pneumatic rubber bladder press – c. 1951 (Willmes) The Australian Wine Research Institute

Retracted

Compression

Exterior view Inside open press

. Key design principle: thin circumferential layer of cake for fast pressing . partially realised (gravity gives a cake thicker at the bottom than the top) . Unsupported rubber bladder subjected to mechanical stress during crumbling . can lead to bladder damage

Pneumatic tank/membrane press – c. 1974 (Willmes) The Australian Wine Research Institute

Modern membrane press - exterior Side-mounted membrane Axial filling

. Enclosed tank with internal drainage ducts Configurations now available . Retracted Compression Reinforced membrane instead of rubber bladder . Scalable – 75 m3 presses now available Side-mounted membrane . Axial filing for improved draining Side-mounted membrane . Self-optimising pressing programs based on flow with central juice ducts . Still the current state of the art Supported centrally-mounted (with some small refinements over time) membrane

Pneumatic tank/membrane press – limiting oxidation The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Grapes/juice exposed to oxygen each membrane retraction/cake crumbling . can degrade grape aromas/precursors relevant to some wine styles

. Inert presses  introduce N2 into the press instead of air during retraction

. SO2 spray into press after each retraction

Inert gas press with inert gas SO2 solution spray prior to recycling (Bucher-Vaslin) crumbling (Pera) Continuous screw press The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Introduced from the late 1800s because of low throughput and high labour requirements of batch presses

Screw press with counter- Screw press with feeding Screw press with feeding rotating feed screw, c. 1915 wheel, c. 1900 wheel, c. 1946 . More solids/turbid juice than batch presses . Improvements: . Larger screw diameters . Slower screw rotation speeds . Better feeding systems . Still lots mores juice solids than batch presses . Use declined with the advent of larger axial- Screw press with static plate feed system, c. 1970 filling membrane presses

Continuous pneumatic press The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Continuous pneumatic presses have also been built, but not widely adopted . Questions about high juice solids content

McKenzie continuous pneumatic press, c. 1960

Siprem continuous pneumatic press, c. 1996 Decanter centrifuge The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Used in many different industries . Intermittently trialled as press substitute in the wine industry over last ~20 years and adopted to a limited extent

Decanter centrifuge mode of operation

. Only produces one juice fraction . Juice can have lower overall solids content (by lab spin test) than batch membrane presses but particles are smaller  turbidity can sometimes be higher . Residual small particles in decanter white/rosé juice may lead to wines with more fruity and amylic aromas (Duquene et al. 2014)

Belt press The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Used in other industries (including fruit juice production) . Intermittently trialled in the wine industry, possibly some limited adoption in the past

Horse-driven belt press c. 1900 Modern belt press for apple juice production

. High levels of juice solids . Belts can be difficult to clean

Future presses – market need and options The Australian Wine Research Institute

. Current dominant technology: . Batch pneumatic membrane press . High yields of low solids juice of high quality . Throughput is still low! (better than earlier batch presses but still low) . Vintages are increasingly compressed (climate change)  need for a competing technology with higher throughput . Future dominant technology: . Decanter centrifuge? . It is the only real current commercially available alternative . Presently difficult to see them displacing membrane presses en masse . Unfamiliar (different to a press) . Only 1 juice fraction . A new technology?

Future press – a new technology The Australian Wine Research Institute

. What performance characteristics would it ideally need in order to be a compelling contender to the batch membrane press?

. Much higher throughput . Comparable yield, juice solids (by spin test and turbidity) and phenolics . Produces all juice fractions side-by-side . Ability to easily adjust division of fractions (“press cuts”) in real-time to maximise value (you cannot do this with a batch press – where you make press cuts not knowing what juice is coming next) . Much smaller footprint and hold-up volume (saves space and allows processing of both small and big batches) . Ability to limit oxidation (may not be necessary if low residence time) . Mechanically robust (membrane presses have few wearing parts) . Highly automated operation and cleaning . Affordable

Future press – a new technology The Australian Wine Research Institute

. What operational characteristics might it have?

. Continuous operation but with multiple stages of compression and crumbling like a batch press . Grapes are destemmed but not crushed before pressing, in an effort to achieve low juice solids with thin cakes (low hold-up volume/footprint) . Note: Whole bunch pressing (e.g. in Champagne) gives juice with the lowest solids content (related to the manner in which juice is released from individual grapes since the stems provide an open cake structure and therefore not much filtration effect) . Direction of juice outlet slots almost perpendicular to the direction of compression (like in a basket press) to avoid fouling of slots . Free juice removed rapidly by vacuum to limit slipping/shearing . Possible mechanisms? . Stages of co-current draining rollers with novel surface profile/material . Staged screw press with novel paddles/elements instead of screw . Stages of pressing between novel high-frequency oscillating surfaces

Thank you – any questions? The Australian Wine Research Institute

Acknowledgements . PhD funding: Australian grape growers and winemakers and the Australian government . PhD supervisors: Brian O’Neill, Chris Colby, Elizabeth Waters, Graham Jones

Advertisement for Marmonier presses Ad. for Mabille presses Ad. for Mabille presses c. 1910, Artist: Hohenstein c. 1900 c. 1925, Artist: Mich

Disclaimer The Australian Wine Research Institute

. This presentation should be considered general in nature and is provided as reference material only. . Whilst we have made reasonable efforts to ensure that the content is free from error we provide no guarantee of this. . The developments described are an interpretation only based on available information.

. None of the information presented should be considered as an endorsement of any product or service by AWRI.