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Rijk's Crushing, de-stemming and cooling of the Pinotage grapes

After harvesting, the grapes are transported from the vineyard to the cellar, where the grapes are crushed and de-stemmed. The reason for crushing is to split the grape?s skin and allow the sugars of the juice to flow and get in contact with the natural occurring yeast found on the grape's skin. Alcohol (and carbon dioxide) is produced when yeast and sugar get in contact with each other.

What a beautiful picture
All the waste water from the cellar gets aerated outside the cellar, so it can be used again for irrigation
Berries and juice arriving in the cellar, is pumped into a mash cooler
Bins get weighed - a bin weighs up to 500kg
Bins get weighed before they are tipped into the crusher and de-stemmer
Bins get weighed
Once the grapes are delivered at the cellar by Michael, the bins are lifted off the tractor
The berries are gently crushed & forced into a pipe that goes into the cellar
The berries are gently crushed and forced into a pipe that goes into the cellar
The bin gets tipped into the crusher and de-stemmer
The cooled down berries from the mash cooler is pumped into a stainless steel tank where first fermentation starts
The cooled down berries from the mash cooler is pumped into a stainless steel tank, where first fermentation starts
The pipe connected to the crusher and de-stemmer, pumping the berries into the cellar
All the berries are removed from the stems and the stems are ejected out the machine into a bin