Term (also known as destemming) for removing the grape skeleton (rape) or removing the berries from the grapes. This is to prevent the tannins, which are particularly unpleasant in flavour in green grape stems, from getting into the grape must. In earlier times, the grapes were mostly processed as a whole, as removing the stems by hand was too laborious and time-consuming. A "G'rebelter (wine)" used to be colloquially regarded as a special quality in Austria. There is also a "Viennese song" about it, which is often sung at the wine taverns (Buschenschank) in Vienna (Aber g'rebelt muss er sein).
In modern viticulture, destemming is not the exception but the rule. Destemming is almost always used in white wine production and for the most part in red wine production. At the beginning of the 19th century, mechanical devices such as the destemmer (Rebler) and the grape mill (crusher) were invented. In mechanical destemming, the grapes are conveyed through a grid drum by means of a spiked roller, where the berries fall through. Only then are the grapes crushed using a grape mill. These two devices are...
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