Punch downs & Pump overs

Both activities are performed to allow more extraction of colors and tannins from the skins of red grapes. If red grapes are pressed off the skins the juice, depending on variety, will be a light rose to clear. When red varieties are processed they are crushed and destemmed then sent to the holding vessel (tank or bin) that it will ferment in.

 No matter the size of the vessel or volume of the juice/skins, a 'cap' will form. This means that the skins raise to the top and the juice settles at the bottom, decreasing the surface area of skins that the juice can be in contact with. If the volume is small enough one can punch down the cap into the juice but if it is a large volume the cap is too thick to break through with that method. At Claar we use mainly pump overs, where we pump the juice from the bottom and spray it over the cap until well mixed. We use what look like sprinklers for our smaller tanks and with the larger ones we manually hold a hose and spray it around. We employ this method every 12 hours, so it is how we start and how we end our days.