Now in the throes of harvest season, winemaker Mike Lancaster is constantly in the cellar. Lately I’ve noticed he’ll leave in the morning and return a couple of times throughout the course of a day. Gracious, I thought. Is he making wine or nursing a newborn in the ICU? What could require such constant attention?
“Punchdown,” he explained.
Oh. I had no idea what that meant.
I’d witnessed a bit of the winemaking process firsthand. For starters, I knew that it was nothing like this:
I’d first observed the Pinot Noir crush. Then, when the Syrah grapes came in from Coryelle Fields in northern Sonoma County, I’d stood with Mike and his business partner, Gray Fowler, as several tons of ripe fruit were squeezed to a beautiful, smoky-sweet pulp. But that was just the beginning.
Syrah crush: view from up above
The Trough 