Feet vs machine

Do we use the old school foot stomping method or do we use machines to crush our grapes? 

Well, sorry to say, we have evolved and use machines to crush our grapes. We use a couple of specialised pieces of equipment - a destemmer crusher that, as the name suggests, destems the bunches of grapes and then crushes the grapes. This machine has a cage/drum with holes big enough for the grapes to get through, whilst the beater on the inside is what knocks the grapes off their stems. The stems come out the other end into a tub (which is composted).

To foot stomp the grapes, we would have to tip the crates of fruit into the shallow fermenters to about knee height to be able to stomp. This would also take a considerable amount of time to make sure the majority of berries are crushed. It would also leave all the stalks in the fermenter.

We do, however, hop into a drained red fermenter to dig the skins out into the press. And yes, our feet and legs are thoroughly cleaned before hopping into the fermenter.