The first stage in the wine making process is to crush the grapes. In days gone by the grapes would be loaded into a large vat and the wine maker(s) would gently tread on them to break the grapes' skins to release the juice.

Nowadays this procedure is almost invariably carried out using a machine called, unsurprisingly, a crusher.

In the case of white wines, after crushing, the juice is separated immediately from the pulp of skins and stalks and fermentation commences.

When making red (and ros