A curious jumble in the cellar – what’s going on here?

18 Sep 2012 – General

The two tanks in the middle between the barrels – we call them ‘companion tanks’.

If you didn’t see the corresponding installment of ‘What’s new?,’ here’s the explanation:

If a horse spent too much time by itself in the stall, it would quite often develop behavioural problems. But if you were to put another creature in the stall with it—even if it were a goat—these temperamental difficulties did not occur. So the expression arose, ‘companion goat.’

Our barrels are filled with must before the onset of fermentation. During fermentation, carbon dioxide is produced, and this would cause the barrels to overflow—for this reason we put a couple little tanks next to them, into which we divert a portion of the must during the most violent phase of the fermentation. Afterwards the must can very gently—that means with least motion and distance involved—be replaced in the barrels. So that’s why we call them companion tanks.