Free run juice is produced by draining without pressing and has what tannin characteristic compared with pressed wine?

• A. Lower tannins
• B. Higher tannins
• C. No tannins
• D. Unchanged tannins

Answer: (A)

Tannin extraction in winemaking depends on how much skin and seed contact the juice experiences and how much mechanical force is used to extract it. Free-run juice drains off before the solid matter is pressed, so there is less disruption of the skins and seeds and less forcing juice out of the solids. That means fewer tannins are pulled into the juice compared with wine that has been pressed, which extracts more tannins from skins and seeds. So free-run juice typically shows a lower tannin character than pressed wine. The other possibilities imply no tannins or unchanged levels, or even more tannins, which doesn’t fit the way tannins are extracted during pressing.