The Australian Wine Research Institute

WineEng 2015

Historical and future developments in grape pressing

Simon Nordestgaard The Australian Wine Research Institute

simon.nordestgaard@awri.com.au

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Outline

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

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Pressing in white and red wine production (simplified)

Destemming

Fermentation

WHITE WINE PRODUCTION

Crushing

Pressing

Pressing

Destemming

RED WINE PRODUCTION

Crushing

Fermentation

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Pressing in white and red wine production (simplified)

Destemming

Fermentation

WHITE WINE PRODUCTION

Crushing

Pressing

Sepa

rate

fra

ctio

ns

1. Intermediate zone • Moderate acidity • Slightly higher sugar 2. Central zone • Highest acidity 3. Peripheral zone • Lowest acidity, • Skins high in potassium, phenolics and aroma precursors

Rupture order of grape pulp cells

Pres

sure

Time

Batch pressing basics

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Ancient Egypt – torsion press

Images from Nakht’s tomb at Thebes – 18th dynasty (c. 1543-1292 BC)

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

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Ancient Greece/Rome – lever press with windlass

Video based on a press found at the “Villa of the Mysteries” near Pompeii (c. 79 AD) (www.museogalileo.it)

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

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Ancient Greece/Rome – lever press with screw

Lever press, c.1200 AD (Chateau Clos de Vougeot)

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

Lever press c. 1770 AD (Musée des arts et métiers

traditionels à Salles-la-Source)

Lever press with counterweight (Pico wine museum, Azores)

counterweight

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Ancient Greece/Rome - direct screw presses

Pressing at Turckheim – Alsace (Lix 1889) c. 1702 (Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer)

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)

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Internal iron screw – c. 1830

Red wine press used in Bordeaux, c. 1860s (Thudichum and Dupré 1872)

Screw fixed into base, nut moves

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Ratcheting press nut – 1869 (Mabille)

Compound leverage can press large batches

Nut progresses as lever is both pushed and pulled

(French web video)

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Ratcheting press nut – 1874 (Marmonier)

+ Multispeed

(French web video)

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Spring pressure accumulators instead of blocks

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

Piling wooden blocks One piece pressing head with spring pressure accumulators (circled)

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Automation – late 1800s early 1900s

Line-shaft driven press

Mobile baskets

Hydraulic press

Cake crumbler

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Horizontal (box) plate press – 1800s

Vaslin horizontal press., c. 1850s (Musée de la vigne et du vin d'Anjou)

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 (Musée du Vignoble Nantais)

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Horizontal (cylindrical) plate press – c.1924

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

He was the grandson of the Joseph Vaslin that invented the bottom emptying box press

Vaslin press price list (Musée de la vigne et du vin d'Anjou)

CMMC-Vaslin press, c. 1950s (Constructions Méca-Metalliques Chalonnaises Vaslin brochure)

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Horizontal plate press – operation

Filling

Pressing

Crumbling

(except spindle)

(except spindle)

Grapes

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

(French web video)

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Horizontal plate press – advances & limitations

Improved draining can rotate cage while loading via fixed annular door(s)

(c. 1977 – model shown c. 1984)

Juice flow rate based self-optimisation Inferred from speed of pressure reduction after tightening (e.g. AB),

c. 1984 (hypothesised profile only)

Pressure Juice flow rate

Increase pressures set-point to avoid low flow rate

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

PT Largest plate press I have seen is 12.5 m3 Bucher acquired CMMC-Vaslin in 1986 Last Vaslin plate press built in 2001

A B

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Pneumatic rubber bladder press – c. 1951 (Willmes)

Exterior view Inside open press

Retracted

Compression

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

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Pneumatic tank/membrane press – c. 1974 (Willmes)

Modern membrane press - exterior

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

Side-mounted membrane

Axial filling

Side-mounted membrane with central juice ducts

Side-mounted membrane

Supported centrally-mounted membrane

Retracted

Compression

Configurations now available

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Pneumatic tank/membrane press – limiting oxidation

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

recycling (Bucher-Vaslin) SO2 solution spray prior to

crumbling (Pera)

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Continuous screw press

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

Screw press with counter-rotating feed screw, c. 1915

Screw press with feeding wheel, c. 1900

Screw press with feeding wheel, c. 1946

Screw press with static plate feed system, c. 1970

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-

filling membrane presses

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Continuous pneumatic press

McKenzie continuous pneumatic press, c. 1960

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

Siprem continuous pneumatic press, c. 1996

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Decanter centrifuge

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)

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Belt press

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

Modern belt press for apple juice production

High levels of juice solids Belts can be difficult to clean

Horse-driven belt press c. 1900

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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 presses – market need and options

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Future press – a new technology

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

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Future press – a new technology

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

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Acknowledgements PhD funding: Australian grape growers and

winemakers and the Australian government PhD supervisors: Brian O’Neill, Chris Colby,

Elizabeth Waters, Graham Jones

Thank you – any questions?

Advertisement for Marmonier presses c. 1910, Artist: Hohenstein

Ad. for Mabille presses c. 1900

Ad. for Mabille presses c. 1925, Artist: Mich

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Disclaimer

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.