Spreading Popularity Of "Complete
Press"
Michael Glover standing
alongside his
VT5000 Vintek Press at Oakvale Estate, Hunter
Valley
Local winepress manufacturer,
Vintek, expanded sales of its new complete press
range to even more winemaking regions this
vintage.
The term 'complete press'
refers to the removable loading hopper and
portable mark removal conveyer belt which makes
it a processing system, not just a conventional
winepress.
Vintek says the latest model
features further technical advancements over
last years model, including a new design door
membrane, tank membrane and hinged screen
arrangement.
Michael Glover, winemaker of
Oakvale Estate, in the Hunter Valley, said he
was 'rapt' with his new VT5000 machine.
"It was new for me as,
for the first time, I had to manage the whole
operation since moving from Rothbury Estate.
From winemaker to maintenance man, I had to do
the lot," Glover said.
"Generally, in a winery
when something doesn't work you freak out,
Glover said. "Luckily, this
wasn't an issue for the Vintek press, but it was
reassuring to know that help was only a phone
call away and, failing that, I had the ability
to utilise the manual override designed into the
machine for such a situation. It's so
simple to understand, you can't go wrong."
When asked about the
processing capability of the VT5000, Glover said
free run amounts were much higher than what he
had experienced with other imported machines.
"I put five tonnes of whole bunch
Chardonnay in with room to spare, 16 1/2 tonnes
of crushed destemmed Chardonnay and 16 tonnes of
fermented reds, because that was all I had.
If I wanted to, I could have put over 20 tonnes
into it!
"We also tried the
rotary fermenting features of the VT5000 and it
produced one of the best batches in the winery.
I have to rethink how we do things in the
future."
Glover also commented that
the Vintek rotary fermenting process produced 'Rotovat'
characters with up-front primary fruit.
"The wine looked classically Rotovat,"
he said.
"I started looking for a
10-tonne press but soon discovered I could get a
similar yield out of the smaller local press.
The service was superb and if I do need a
10-tonne press I won't accept that Vintek
doesn't have one in the range; I'll ask the
company to make one anyway," Glover said.
Peter Stanlake, of Hayshed
Hill Vineyard, in Western Australia, was another
new winemaker to experience the VT5000, having
first seen a Vintek press at the Margaret River
Field Day in May 1999.
"First, the service was
very, very good. Having the production
manager of Vintek there for a week at the start
of the vintage providing training was a great
help to us," Stanlake said, adding that the
training and after-sales service provided by
Vintek was "10 out of 10".
"This is a really
well-built machine with a nice big area of
screen surface that produced very good juice
quality. Even Semillon didn't produce any
problems for us," he said.
Vintek has recently made
changes to the screen attachment method through
the use of a hinge arrangement. Although
predominately self-cleaning, the screens can now
be lifted and cleaned without removal from the
press.
from The
Australian Grapegrower & Winemaker June/July
2000
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