In the 1990’s my husband and I began making wine. Living close to the vineyards of Yamhill, Oregon, we bought grapes in bulk and processed them through a hand-cranked stemmer-crusher. Red wines are crushed, fermented and then pressed, while white wines are pressed right after being crushed, and then fermented. These photos are of a Pinot Gris crush, when my family joined in to help.

As we aged, and the price of good wine lowered, while the price of good grapes skyrocketed, we sold the equipment and turned our energies to other activities. What fun it was though, on those cold October days when we’d get the call – time for harvest!