What is pigeage?

What is pigeage?

• A. Pumping over the cap
• B. Draining the fermentation vessel over the cap
• C. Free run wine
• D. Punch down method of cap management

Answer: (D)

Pigeage is the manual cap-management action during red-wine fermentation where the solid grape skins form a cap on top of the fermenting must. The process involves breaking up and pushing that cap back down into the juice, typically by hand or with a tool (or by foot in traditional setups). This submerges the skins to maintain good contact with the fermenting liquid, promoting color, aroma, and tannin extraction while helping regulate temperature and prevent the cap from drying out. It’s distinct from pumping over, which uses juice drawn from below to spray over the cap, and from draining the vessel, which removes juice rather than submerging the cap. Free run wine refers to the juice that runs off without pressing, not a cap-management technique.

Pigeage is the manual cap-management action during red-wine fermentation where the solid grape skins form a cap on top of the fermenting must. The process involves breaking up and pushing that cap back down into the juice, typically by hand or with a tool (or by foot in traditional setups). This submerges the skins to maintain good contact with the fermenting liquid, promoting color, aroma, and tannin extraction while helping regulate temperature and prevent the cap from drying out. It’s distinct from pumping over, which uses juice drawn from below to spray over the cap, and from draining the vessel, which removes juice rather than submerging the cap. Free run wine refers to the juice that runs off without pressing, not a cap-management technique.