Taking the plunge…
When you mention winemaking these days, it seems that the first image that comes to mind with most folks is the scene from “I Love Lucy”, and everybody wants to know if they can come out and help us “stomp on the grapes”. Generally, grapes are not crushed by foot anymore (except in Portugal, where the tradition continues.) What does still happen, though, is what we call a “human pigeage”. Pigeage is the French term for “punch-down” – the act of pushing the floating skins and solids down into the fermenting juice. Nowadays most of this is done by hand with a long wooden or stainless-steel staff with a metal or plastic disc at the bottom. However, many estates in Burgundy, and even some of us here in Oregon, have been known to hop into the tanks feet-first.
There’s an advantage to this – by being physically in the tank you can tell if there are any cool or warm spots, you can more evenly distribute any whole-clusters in the tank, more gently extract the flavors and color form the skins, and you can just get a better feel for the fermentation. I will be taking the plunge tonight, getting warm and sticky in a few tanks of our Momtazi fruit that is mid-fermentation right now. (Yes, it’s sanitary – we wash thoroughly and sanitize our feet and legs prior to getting in, and between the tanks as well…) The only downside is that it can be colder than hell when you get out!
We are blessed with an abundance of natural beauty here in Oregon throughout the year (yes, even in the rainy winter we get a lot of sun-breaks, and everyting is really, really green) – but perhaps right now – the heart of fall right after the harvest – is the most stunning of all. Nature puts on quite show, and the vineyards are at their most splendid just before they give up the ghost for the year.
Here’s a great shot taken out of my old office window at Domaine Drouhin – it doesn’t get much better than this -
