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Is this where the term “Punch Drunk” comes from?
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On this day, in 1856, the record for the longest bare-knuckle fight occurred in Melbourne, Australia. The sport of bare-knuckle fighting or fisticuffs was the original form of boxing as we know it today. The only thing that differentiated it from a street fight is that there were rules, umpires, and championships.
But on this day, James Kelly and Jack Smith battled for a record 6 hours and 15 minutes. And I’m sure if I wasn’t such a pansy, I’d take an extra 15 seconds of research time to tell you who won the fight.
But I’d rather tell you about today’s Wine Word of the Day: Punch Downs.
After grapes are harvested, they are crushed into a container to begin the fermentation process. Medium to larger wineries crush their grapes into stainless steel tanks, whereas smaller wineries typically crush their grapes into bins.
In the case of these small wineries, the bins are about 4’ square and 4’ high and the top is open to receive the grapes. Once the yeast starts fermenting the juice, the skins rise and float on top of the grape juice. But since the color of the wine comes from the skins, the winemaker must stir the skins back down into the juice to help develop the color and structure of the wine.
This stirring process is known as “doing punch downs”. To punch down the skins, the winemaker usually stands precariously atop the thin edge of the bin and uses a stainless steel rod with a foot on the bottom to push the skins back down into the juice. Although no winemaker readily admits it, they all have some stories about slipping during punch-downs and nearly plunging head-first into 200 gallons of wine. Some may actually admit to falling in.
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