The reds are put through the crusher to essentially break open the grape without crushing the seed inside. Really its to let the juice flow out and expose the inside of the grape to the yeast that will be added to the must. Once crushed the slurry of grape juice skins, pulp and seed makes up the must (we pull the stems out). We then add the yeast and let the yeast work its magic on the sugars and turn them into alcohol. After about 7-10 days the fermentation is pretty much complete and we drain off the free flowing wine and then we have to press the skins and pulp etc must (now wine) to release the rest of the wine that they may hold. Once that's all done the wine finishes fermenting, usually another few more days and we'll rack the wine off the sediment into a clean new carboy.
The whites are treated a bit differently. We crush and press them the same day so only the juice is fermented (no skins). We add the yeast and after about 7-10 days the fermentation is all but done. We then syphon the wine off of the sediment into a fresh carboy.
Always great to get the grapes processed and fermenting, even better when you've got some help and have some fun.
