Responsa for Avodah Zarah 110:3
<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> אמר רב הונא יין כיון שהתחיל להמשך עושה יין נסך תנן לוקחים גת בעוטה מן העובד כוכבים ואע"פ שנטל בידו ונתן לתפוח א"ר הונא בגת פקוקה ומלאה
GEMARA. R. Huna said: As soon as the wine begins to flow it may become yayin nesekh. But we learn in our Mishnah: A winepress [containing] trodden [grapes] may be purchased from a non-Jew even though it was he that lifted [the trodden grapes] with his hand and put them among the heap. Huna said: This refers to a winepress which is stoppered and full.
Shut min haShamayim
They responded: it is a well-known halacha that something is only considered 'wine' once the liquid begins to flow to the mouth of the winepress (Avoda Zara 55b:3). But the squeezing of grapes inside a vessel is no different to packing a sack of wheat in order that it hold as much wheat as possible. So too, the squeezing of the grapes here is only to pack them in tightly, and there is no hint of transgression. Somebody who purposefully refrains from doing something permitted is considered vulgar. But as for you, "Do not disdain your mother of old," (Proverbs 23:22), and those who are stringent in this regard will be blessed, while those who are lenient, [Heaven is] lenient with the length of their days and years. All this they responded to me.*The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 75a:6) seems to say that vessels that carried grapes need to be rinsed, and while this line is omitted by the Rif, Rabbeinu Tam (cited in Beit Yosef Yoreh Deah 138) requires it too. Perhaps this is the source for the discrepancy of customs being discussed here. As usual, the heavenly response gives great importance to local custom.
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