Commentaire sur Avoda Zara 4:8
לוֹקְחִין גַּת בְּעוּטָה מִן הַגּוֹי אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהוּא נוֹטֵל בְּיָדוֹ וְנוֹתֵן לַתַּפּוּחַ. וְאֵינוֹ נַעֲשֶׂה יֵין נֶסֶךְ, עַד שֶׁיֵּרֵד לַבּוֹר. יָרַד לַבּוֹר, מַה שֶּׁבַּבּוֹר אָסוּר, וְהַשְּׁאָר מֻתָּר:
Il est permis d'acheter un pressoir foulé à un gentil, [qui a foulé les raisins], même s'il (le gentil) prend dans sa main [les raisins du vin] et le place sur le tapuach [l'endroit (en forme de monticule) où les raisins sont récoltés. Notre tanna soutient qu'il ne devient pas du vin interdit (yayin nesech) jusqu'à ce qu'il descende vers la citerne. (Ceci est une ancienne Mishnah et n'est pas la halakha, mais une fois que le vin commence à couler, c'est yayin nesech)]. Ce n'est pas yayin nesech jusqu'à ce qu'il descende vers la citerne. Une fois qu'il descend à la citerne [— puis, si un gentil le touche], ce qui est dans la citerne est interdit et le reste est permis.
Bartenura on Mishnah Avodah Zarah
English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah
When it has descended into the vat, what is in the vat is prohibited; But the remainder is permitted.
In chapter two, mishnah three, we learned that Jews may not drink wine touched by non-Jews, lest they had used the wine as a libation. The remainder of tractate Avodah Zarah will deal with the prohibition of non-Jewish wine. Our mishnah defines at what point in the process of wine-pressing do the grapes and grape juice begin to be considered wine.
Section one: A Jew may buy a winepress and all of the grapes that are being trodden in it from a non-Jew, even though the non-Jew has lifted up the trodden grapes and moved them into a different heap. At this point in their processing the grapes are not yet considered wine, and therefore their being handled by a non-Jew does not make them “yen nesek”, which is forbidden to Jews. In other words, while we might suspect that non-Jews offer up libations with wine, they will not do so with grapes that are not yet fully pressed, nor will they do so with grape juice. Only when the juice has descended into the vat where it will ferment into wine is it considered yen nesek.
When the wine does descend from the winepress into the vat, the wine which is in the vat is prohibited. However, that which remains above in the winepress is still permitted, even though it has been handled by a non-Jew.