What’s the big deal about stems?

Why would anyone want to put grape stems in their wine? Richard Hemming investigates for Wine Searcher. Stems? As in the bits of a bunch of grapes you throw away? Yes! There is a growing trend for chucking the stems in the fermentation vat along with the grapes, rather than chucking them away. When making red wine, most grapes go through a machine called a crusher-destemmer, when they reach the winery.