Progress Report on Our Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon

We harvested our Cabernet Franc on Saturday October 26 and our Cabernet Sauvignon on Sunday November 3, and brought both harvests to Jonathan Edwards Winery to have Michael and Alex help us with the destemming, crushing and fermentation.
During the fermentation, we participated in punchdowns over the weekend and now it was time for the wine to be separated from the spent grape skins and seeds. We were very fortunate that Michael had a small basket press that was never used. We went to Jonathan Edwards Winery on Monday, November 19 around 2 p.m. and Michael and Alex had already done one pressing of the Cabernet Franc.

This is what the spent grapes looked like and the wine that was pressed from the fermented grapes.

Since Michael and Alex had never done a pressing on such a small quantity, they devised this clever idea to get the juice into the waiting barrel. The basket press on a pallet was elevated by a fork lift above the waiting barrel.

The Cabernet Franc grapes/wine must was put into the barrel.

Even before the pump was turned on, the free run came out of the grapes. After turning on the pump to inflate the bag inside, the wine was released from the grapes. The pressure applied to inflate the bag was 1 atmosphere, or 12 pounds. I felt the spent grapes and it was like dust!
Here is a photo of the wine flowing from the press.

Alex thought that we might have 30 gallons of wine! The wine will sit overnight in the barrel and then be racked into a 30 gallons closed top barrel for malolactic fermentation.
Thanks Michael and Alex! We really appreciate your help!