Carbonic Maceration

Carbonic maceration is a production technique used to create certain styles of light, highly aromatic, red wines. Here, whole clusters are placed in an anaerobic environment and care is taken to rupture as few berries as possible.

Carbon dioxide is then pumped into the sealed vessel containing whole clusters and all oxygen is removed from the environment. The pulp begins to breakdown inside the grape's skin. Wines that have undergone carbonic maceration are noted for distinct fruit aromatics.