[OL FB] Wine Press

[Captain Genaro]

No one knows the exact origins of the winepress. Many say it was Dionysus who, upon seeing how much of glorious juice was wasted by the traditional trampling of grapes, has Hephaestus create the first wine press, a machine which early Oleanders quickly reverse engineered and spread throughout the Empire. Others (heretics obviously) claim it was the inevitable result of scientific progress in a wine-obsessed nation. Regardless of how, the important thing is the winepress is here. 

To the untrained observer it seems simple enough. A basket is filled with grapes from nearby barrels. Once the basket is filled, a capstan is turned to lower a plate, slowly crushing the grapes. Juice flows out a hole in the bottom of the basket into a cask.  until the cask is full and ready to be stored for fermentation. The cake, the remaining seeds, skin, and stems are then put aside and usually end up as food for swine. 

Despite being a very manual task, the work requires significant skill. The grapes must be properly harvested, for unripened or overripe fruit could contaminate an entire batch of wine. Lowering the capstan is no small task either. Too much pressure and the artisan risks crushing the seeds, a terrible disaster, while failing to press hard enough would result in juice stuck in the cake. But for the man who can master this craft, the rewards are rich. 

P1130821 by Capt. Genaro, on Flickr

[Elostirion]

Marvellous texturing of the house, I love it!

[NOD]

Interesting story. You seem to be very familiar with grapes and the making of wine. You either watched or even operated a wine press yourself.

 

The warehouse with the red brickwork matches the wine press.

[blackdeathgr]

Nice depicting of the process and cool wall technique. Interestingly enough, we harvested and "pressed" our own grapes a month ago (although we use a different technique using bare feet in an open tank) 

[Bodi]

A neat built, nice wall technique and bravo for the background story, the press looks good too.

[Fraunces]

Kudos for explaining the build so nicely. Good work

[Kai NRG]

Great technique for the brick wall!

[Mesabi]

nice SNOT technique, and the build turned out quite well. the ground is done quite well, and the entire build is very clean. great job!

[Captain Genaro]

On 11/1/2020 at 1:36 AM, Elostirion said:

Marvellous texturing of the house, I love it!

Thank you. The texturing took a while to get right, but I think it was worth the effort. 

On 11/1/2020 at 3:20 AM, NOD said:

Interesting story. You seem to be very familiar with grapes and the making of wine. You either watched or even operated a wine press yourself.

 

The warehouse with the red brickwork matches the wine press.

I'm glad you like it. I've seen the production, but never owned or operated a wine press. 

On 11/1/2020 at 4:04 AM, blackdeathgr said:

Nice depicting of the process and cool wall technique. Interestingly enough, we harvested and "pressed" our own grapes a month ago (although we use a different technique using bare feet in an open tank) 

Thank you, BD. It's really interesting to read you still press grapes the traditional way. You'll have to show us in a build once you have more time.  

On 11/1/2020 at 6:24 AM, Bodi said:

A neat built, nice wall technique and bravo for the background story, the press looks good too.

Thank you for the compliments, Bodi.  

On 11/1/2020 at 9:45 AM, Fraunces said:

Kudos for explaining the build so nicely. Good work

Very kind, thank you. 

On 11/2/2020 at 7:48 AM, Kai NRG said:

Great technique for the brick wall!

Thank you, I'm glad you like the technique. 

On 11/3/2020 at 3:17 AM, Mesabi said:

nice SNOT technique, and the build turned out quite well. the ground is done quite well, and the entire build is very clean. great job!