History of the wine press
[1] The earliest wine press was probably the human foot or hand, crushing and squeezing grapes into a bag or container where the contents would ferment.
Hieroglyph and paintings also showed the Egyptians by at least by the 18th Dynasty (c. 1550 – c. 1292 BC) were also using a type of cloth "sack press" in which grapes or skins left over from treading would be twisted and squeezed by a tourniquet to release the juice.
The wine made from these rudimentary pressing wasn't held in high esteem by the Greeks, often tainted with impurities and having a short shelf life.
[3] In the 1st century AD, Roman statesman Pliny the Elder described a "Greek style" press in his work Natural History that saw the windlass replaced by a vertical screw that often included a counterweight to increase pressure.
Yet despite their frequent mentions in ancient writings and archaeological evidence showing the presence of wine presses throughout the Roman Empire, their use was actually relatively rare.
This was because having a wine press was a very expensive and large piece of equipment that most Roman farmers, outside the estate holding patricians and the most wealthy plebeians, could not afford.
[1] Varro also described in his work De re rustica a type of "pressed wine" known as lorca that was produced by the left over grape skins being soaked in water that was served to slaves and farm workers.
Attached the base of the beam was a cut piece of stone that fit the circumference of a vat that was lined with porous clay or cloth.
A replica of this style of Roman screw press still exists at a winery in Beaucaire, Gard, in the Languedoc wine region of France.
[4] In the Middle Ages, most winemaking technology advances were made by religious orders (particularly in France and Germany) who owned vast amounts of vineyard land and produced large quantities of wines in their abbeys and bishoprics.
[1] While the basket press was becoming more widely used by Church-owned estates in France and Germany, winemaking in the Iberian Peninsula and by small local farmers throughout Europe was still mostly down by treading in stone lagers.
The highest quality was the vin de goutte or the "free run" juice that was released by the mere weight of the grapes squeezing each other as they were loaded into the press.
The free run vin de goutte was considered too delicate and lacking on its own to make fine Champagne and it was sometimes discarded or used for other wines.
[4] With relatively modest changes, the basket press has continued to be widely used for centuries since its introduction by both small artisan winemakers to large Champagne houses.
Additionally, many of today's modern presses are computerized which allows the operator to control exactly how much pressure is being applied to the grape skins and for how many cycles.
