Published October 2, 2025
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As our Pinot noir begins to ferment, one of our most important tasks is Cap Management. As the yeast consumes the sugar, along with alcohol, it also releases carbon dioxide. These tiny CO2 bubbles lift the grape skins to the surface of the fermentation bins, forming a cap.
When they are floating on top of the wine, the skins cannot release their vibrant color and delicious flavor into the wine, so we need to mix them back into the wine. This can be done by pumping the wine over the top of the cap or by punching the cap down with a paddle.
What’s Our Preferred Method?
At Winter’s Hill we sometimes do both at the same time in order to mix the tank completely. However we do it, it is critical to be gentle with the wine. We want to extract the delicious flavors, but we don’t want any bitterness or astringency.
