Fresno State’s Department of Viticulture and Enology held the semester’s last Student Wine Grape Crush and Processing Day at the campus winery ­on Sept. 29.

Matthew Brain, the university’s winemaker, said of the processing day, “This is the last fruit of the year. This is all red fruit that we’re processing. And when we do red fermentations, we ferment in contact with the skins so that we get lots of color.”

Brain said that the winemaking process has many steps.

“We are separating the stems from the berries; the berries will go in the fermentation and the stems will go to the composter. We’ve got a number of people right here that are sorting the fruit. What they are looking for is anything that we wouldn’t want in the fermenter,” Brain said.

“From this point, the fruit will get inoculated with yeast, and we will punch them every day so that they get some air in there,” Brain said. “The skins and everything will go in this big press, we will press the skins away from the juice. The juice will go to the tanks and then eventually into barrels for aging.”

Brain, who is also a lecturer on campus, said the most fun part of the process is making great wine.

“In the context of teaching and education, it’s awesome to have fruit that is a little bit challenging, that we need to work with a little bit and we need to apply our skills of blending, fermentation management, flavor manipulation so that we can take that fruit that is kind of good and make it really good,” he said.

Students in the wine-processing class are experiencing a challenging year for winemaking.

“It was quite hot, water is low,” Brain said. “So we are starting to get fruit that is a little more challenging, but the students do an excellent job with it and I think what we’re making is really good, so far.”

Brain credits the hands-on aspect of winemaking to students creating and maintaining a lasting career in the wine business.

“There is a career long adventure to get motivated for. So to have the students out here for them to feel like what they’re doing is meaningful and that it’s going to be an exciting career,” Brain said. “So there’s a big motivational side. But then I think there is a real aspect of work ethic, and Fresno State students are known to have grit. They’re known to be able to get out there and work hard with their hands.”

Enology student assistant Alec Fraser hopes to be a winemaker after graduation.

“I do everything from help set up and sanitize all the equipment to help get the fruit to the line, help with my fellow students to process the fruit, pick out anything that doesn’t look good as well as break down sanitization afterwards,” Fraser said

Fraser said the hands-on program is beneficial because students are able to get “real, working experience.”

“As an enology student, our learning crosses a lot of different paths. We do a lot of chemistry. We do a lot of plant physiology with viticulture, as well as a lot of sensory science,” Fraser said.

He said his favorite part of enology is seeing the finished product in stores.

“Seeing the entire lifespan of a few wines that we have now bottled. Working with the fruit last year, working with the fermentations, aging them last year and bottling them this year… then we go out to grocery stores and see them on the shelves,” Fraser said. “Realistically, the whole thing is very fun. It’s very, very hard work and very tiring, but it is enjoyable.”