🍷 Destemming

Destemming is separating the berries from the stems, the little branches of the bunch, before fermentation starts. The berries go on to the vat or press, and the bare stems go aside. This step makes the wine softer and cleaner in taste, because green stems give astringent substances and herbaceous aromas.

The OIV defines the operation as separating the berries from the stems of the harvested grapes before fermentation and names two aims. Red wine loses less colour and alcohol and becomes less tannic and less astringent. The herbaceous taste given by unlignified, green stems also disappears. The OIV sets no particular requirements on how it is done.

At the winery this is most often done by a machine, the destemmer. It is often combined with a crusher, so the berries are lightly broken at once and the juice starts to run. Before that the grapes are usually picked over on a sorting table to remove rotten and unripe berries and leaves.

Stems are not always removed. For "Crémant" sparkling wine, EU rules allow pressing either whole bunches or destemmed berries, and the must yield is capped: no more than 100 litres from 150 kg of grapes. So the decision depends on the variety and the style of wine the winemaker has in mind.

Why it matters to you. Whether the stems were removed affects how astringent and "green" a wine turns out. If a winery says it kept the stems, this is a deliberate choice of style, not carelessness.