Atlas Peak - The Cold Soak

The next step after the grapes are de-stemmed is of course to put them in a tank. After the berries are hand sorted to remove any stem pieces, the berries are collected into special boxes that we only use to transport the berries into the tank room with. The half-ton box is lifted up with a forklift that has a special attachment allowing the bin to be tipped forward and the berries gently dumped into the tank.

Every tank in the winery has a dimpled cooling jacket that allows us to circulate cold water around the outside of the tank and control the temperature of the grapes inside the tank.

Our goal will be to "Cold Soak" the grapes for the next 48 hours. We consider the day we crush the grapes, day (0), where the grapes are then placed into this tank. On the next two mornings, day (1) and day (2), we will connect a pump to the tank and "pump over" the grapes. A "pump over" means we take the grapes from the bottom of the tank and pump them over to the top of the tank. This allows us to balance out the temperature of the tank and also homogenize the grapes and juice in the tank.

The Cabernet Sauvignon is picked in the cool early morning hours, which allow us to hold the tank at 48 Fahrenheit for the next 48 hrs.

Darren Procsal
Winemaker
Atlas Peak