must is the name used by winemakers for a thick liquid that is neither grape juice nor wine but the intermediate, a mixture of grape juice, stem fragments, grape skins, seeds, and pulp that comes from the crusher-destemmer that smashes grapes at the start of the winemaking process. The French equivalent is moût, the Italian and Spanish is mosto, and the German is Most, but the word ‘must’ has been used in English for at least a thousand years with several small nuances of specific meaning. All refer to the mixture of crushed, chopped, or smashed fruit being prepared for, or undergoing, fermentation.
