Punch Down
Everyone has heard of the virtues of a glass of red wine, with that in mind I headed to a fun event at Carruth Cellars Urban Winery & Tasting Room this past weekend http://carruthcellars.com/, that's Adam the owner preforming the punch down, looks like he knows what he is doing!
Definition: Punching down is done to keep the fermenting wine and skins mixed up during red wine fermentation. As the wine ferments, the skins rise to the top of the tank and form a thick "cap." It's important to break up the cap a few times a day to increase the extraction of color and flavor, and to prevent the cap from drying out and/or developing bacterial problems. A punch down means the cap was manually pushed back into the fermenting wine using an instrument that looks like a huge metal potato masher.
Definition: Punching down is done to keep the fermenting wine and skins mixed up during red wine fermentation. As the wine ferments, the skins rise to the top of the tank and form a thick "cap." It's important to break up the cap a few times a day to increase the extraction of color and flavor, and to prevent the cap from drying out and/or developing bacterial problems. A punch down means the cap was manually pushed back into the fermenting wine using an instrument that looks like a huge metal potato masher.
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