Pigeage - Punch down cap on wine vat during fermentation
Channel: Ryan O'Connell
Date: 2008-10-15

http://www.ovineyards.com/public_html/blog/blog.html

Wine experts explain that a lot of the color and tannin in wine comes from direct contact with the skin and seeds during maceration.  But you can't just let the skins soak in the wine while it ferments.  The wine's fermentation will create gases that rise to the top of the vat like the bubbles in soda, and this gas will lift all the skin and seeds in the vat to the top where they form a thick, dryish cap.

To ameliorate the maceration we punch that cap back down, a process known as pigeage in French.

This video shows the first day of punch downs, the techniques we use, the tools (passerelle and pigeur), and a couple other neat tidbits.  It also features our floating top vats which are neat because you can adjust the height of the lid and thus the volume of the cuve.