The assessment of the this process was aimed at providing a number of answers : (i) on the pertinence of this configuration, (ii) on the design guidelines (in particular the number of tanks, their treatment and aeration capacity), (iii) on the expected efficiency. The measurements permitted to acquire knowledge of the hydraulic and organic loads to be treated as a function of the winery capacity ; and of their variations in time. Specific ratios were established (litres of discharged wastewater per hl of produced wine, kg of unfiltered COD per hl of produced wine during the vintage season). This kind of results bring important pieces of information concerning the management of the wastewater in the winery, and can help to decide which strategy should be adopted to minimise the pollution flux at the treatment plant. The treatment ability of the "tanks in series" process can be improved by providing upstream effluent storage, which main benefit relies in its hydraulic and organic buffer function. Moreover, a preliminary biological treatment could be considered in order to remove the readily degradable fraction of the effluent. A detailed analysis of the biological system permitted to select the pertinent design parameters. For this kind of configuration, a total organic loading on the whole set of tanks of 0,12 kg BOD5 per kg VSS per day is satisfying. Details are given about the hydraulic retention time, F/M ratio, distribution of the aeration capacity on each tanks and the knowledge of the processes which avoid the addition of nutriments and the pH control. The "tanks in series" process is found to be a convenient technique, since it showed appropriate treatment efficiency, it has low constraints upon operating, and produces a small amount of sludge. The obtained data will be of interest for the decision-makers, and will help to select the treatment process, evaluate the financial implications and assess the other features.