What is pressing in winemaking?
Quick answer
Pressing is the step where juice is separated from grape skins, seeds, and stems — and how it's done has a huge impact on wine quality. For white and rosé wines, pressing happens before fermentation (to keep the juice clear of skin contact). For reds, it happens after maceration. The key is pressure: too gentle and you leave good juice behind; too forceful and you extract bitter, coarse tannins from seeds and stems.
Detailed answer
Pressing is where raw grapes become wine-in-waiting. It sounds mechanical, but the decisions made during pressing are deeply artistic — determining whether a wine will be elegant or rustic, fine or coarse.
**For whites and rosés**, pressing happens immediately after harvest (or after a brief cold soak for skin-contact wines). The goal: extract clean, clear juice without pulling harsh tannins from skins and seeds. Modern pneumatic presses inflate a rubber bladder slowly (0.2-2 bar), gently squeezing the grapes against a perforated drum. The winemaker monitors the juice as it flows, separating different quality fractions.
The first juice to flow — called 'free-run' or *vin de goutte* — is the finest and most aromatic, representing about 60-70% of the total. As pressure increases, the juice becomes progressively more tannic and less refined. Top producers keep these fractions separate and decide later which to include in the final wine.
**Champagne has the strictest pressing regulations in the wine world.** From 4,000 kg of grapes (one 'marc'), only 2,550 litres of juice can be extracted. The first 2,050 litres are called the 'cuvée' (the finest portion); the next 500 litres are the 'taille' (good but less refined). Anything beyond is discarded. This rigorous selection is one reason Champagne achieves such finesse.
**For reds**, pressing happens after maceration — once the wine has spent days or weeks in contact with skins. The free-run wine (60-85% of volume) is drained off, and the remaining skin mass (pomace) is pressed. Press wine is deeper in colour, higher in tannin, and more structured. Winemakers blend 5-15% press wine back into the free-run to add backbone and ageing potential.
**Pressing technology matters.** Vertical basket presses (traditional in Burgundy and Champagne) are slow and gentle — a full pressing cycle takes 4-6 hours. Pneumatic presses are faster and more consistent. Continuous screw presses extract maximum juice but at lower quality — used for bulk wine. The general rule: slower and gentler = finer wine.
| Juice fraction | % of total | Quality | Character | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free-run (vin de goutte) | 60-70% | Highest | Delicate, aromatic, fine | Heart of the wine |
| First press | 10-15% | High | Balanced, slightly fuller | Often blended in |
| Second press | 5-10% | Moderate | Tannic, robust | Blended sparingly or separately |
| Hard press / rebêche | 5-10% | Low | Bitter, coarse | Excluded from premium wines |
| Cuvée (Champagne specific) | 80% of allowed total | Premium | Finest, most elegant | Top Champagne cuvées |
| Taille (Champagne specific) | 20% of allowed total | Good | Fuller, more rustic | Blended or used in NV |