Grape steps

Grape steps

Making wine without a grape press is quite a challenge. That this has ever been achieved may be called a miracle. Just consider what the options were during the birth of the first wines, some 6,000 years ago. After the harvest, flatten the grapes with billets, as was the custom with grain. Or throwing heavy boulders on them, or grinding them with millstones. All chillingly cruel torture that no grape would be happy about. Moreover, there is the problem of grape seeds. After all, they contain a lot of tannins, which when they burst open give the wine a bitter taste. -TEXT ILJA GORT | IMAGE PEXELS.COM

Grape steps

Pressing grapes by flattening them with your bare feet is therefore a thought. So ingenious in its simplicity, it must have come from a woman. It completely dwarfs the invention of the wheel. By dancing barefoot with a large group of men and women to flatten the grapes, you quickly extract a lot of juice from the grapes in a gentle manner. A power of flavour, colour and aroma is extracted from the grape skins and the seeds remain whole. With the bonus of a crazy evening of song, dance and wine plus a heartwarming team spirit.

There are Egyptian murals showing men treading on grapes in large wooden barrels. To keep their balance in the slippery grape muck, they hold on to each other's shoulders and to ropes attached to tall poles. Sometimes the grape treaders worked to the rhythm of specially hired musicians. But mostly they sang themselves - reportedly "very bawdy songs".

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