It's nothing that impressive but I took some video of me hand punching the cap on my Malbec and Zinfandel. I learned a few people didn't understand what it meant to "punch the cap" so I figured the easiest thing would be to take video of the process.

Basically what happens is that during fermentation, the yeast converts the sugar in the must to alcohol. The result is CO2 - carbon dioxide. When the CO2 is released it pushes all the grape skins to the top of your container. This can be as extreme as a few inches of just grapes skins drying out on the top surface of the juice. Because red wine gets so much of its structure, color and complexity from the grapes skins, it's important to keep the skins submerged in the juice.

Punching the cap DOES NOT occur in making white wine. The acids and compounds in the skins would overpower the fruit from the grape and the results wouldn't be very desirable.

Without further ado...

Punching the cap on my Malbec


Punching the cap on my Zinfandel