Délestage is a French winemaking term, known as “Rack and Return” in English. It refers to the process during fermentation of a red wine, where all of the liquid in a fermenting red wine is drained from the skins, seeds and stalks into another tank or vessel and then returning it back to the original fermenter often by pumping it over the top of the skins. It is done to introduce oxygen, moderate temperature, and, encourage the extraction of colour, flavour and tannin from the skins, seeds and stalks.
You can watch it happening during the making of our 2017 Wine Decoded Shiraz, in the Wine Bites Article below. The importance of oxygen introduction for yeast health and the development of red wines during fermentation is also discussed in the video.
Buggy Moving Ferments are Cranking – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 11 Episode 1
