SIMURG
punching down
EN
c. n.
The process of breaking up the cap and pushing it back down into the wine so that the cap stays moist during fermentation. 1
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 potato masher. 2
Punching down your cap more than twice a day will not harm your wine. 3
[pʌntʃɪŋ daʊn] 4
Synonym: pigeage. 5
Punch = "to drive (cattle, etc.) by poking and prodding," late 14c., from O.Fr. ponchonner "to punch, prick, stamp," from ponchon "pointed tool, piercing weapon" (see punch (n.1)). Meaning "to stab, puncture" is from mid-15c. Specific meaning of "to hit with the fist" first recorded 1520s, probably influenced by punish; noun sense of "a blow with the fist" is recorded by 1570s.
-ing = suffix attached to verbs to mean their action, result, product, material, etc., from O.E. -ing, -ung, from P.Gmc. *unga (cf. O.N. -ing, Du. -ing, Ger. -ung).
Down = late O.E. aphetic form of O.E. ofdune "downwards," from dune "from the hill," dative of dun "hill". A sense development peculiar to English. Used as a preposition since c.1500. 6
Università degli Studi di Genova, Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere, Corso di Interpreti e Traduttori.
Cinzia Parri, rev. Chiara Barbagianni
1 : http://www.grapestompers.com/punch_down_cap.asp, (16/11/2011)
2 : http://www.kenswineguide.com/wine.php?word=16, (16/11/2011)
3 : http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10512, (16/11/2011)
4 : http://dictionary.cambridge.org, (16/11/2011)
5 : http://mroconnell.hubpages.com/hub/Punching-Down-the-Cap-during-Wine-Fermentation, (16/11/2011)
6 : http://www.etymonline.com, (16/11/2011)