BASKET PRESS
A wooden press used in the early days of Australian winemaking (and by some winemakers for certain wines today). This press is used to press the grapes to extract the juice, and colour from the skins.
A basket press consists of a large basket that is filled with the crushed grapes. Pressure is applied through a plate that is forced down onto the fruit. The mechanism to lower the plate is often either a screw or a hydraulic device.
The three-man basket press in France, c. 1900.
Pressing the grapes extracts juice as well as additional color and tannins. Too much pressure will also begin leaching bitter tannins from the seeds, so care must be taken.
In the chai there is similar investment; traditional equipment, such as the wooden basket press to the left, pictured in the grounds of a château in the Entre-Deux-Mers, has been superseded by newer designs.
The traditional basket press is gradually being supplanted by a horizontal basket press, applying pressure from both ends. Continuous screw-type presses are also employed, especially for drained pulp.
Sometimes the marc is pressed first with a modern bladder-type cylindrical press and then with a traditional basket press.
Most modern devices use an inflatable bladder; older devices called basket presses are still encountered. Some producers think that these give better results and will advertise their use on the label.
Wines like Grange, Jim Barry Armagh, Rockford Basket Press, St Hallett Old Block, Wolf Blass Black Label, and E&E Black Pepper Shiraz, ...
 See also: Tannin, Rough, Wine, Press, Tannins
  
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