# Ever heard of "pigeage"?



## PPBart (May 18, 2011)

Reading some about winemaking history, came across an interesting passage about French winemaking in the 300-400 AD period:

"After picking, grapes were crushed with bare feet. The must, or grape juice, was then poured into giant vats, followed by a process called 'pigeage', in which naked workers plunged themselves into the frothy liquid. Holding tightly to chains that had been fastened to overhead beams, the workers would then raise and lower themselves over and over again, stirring the must with their entire bodies so as to aerate the mixture and enhance the fermentation. It was a dangerous exercise. Hardly a harvest went by without some workers losing their grip and drowning, or being asphyxiated by the carbonic gas given off by the fermenting juice. Victims were almost always men, since women, in some parts of France, were barred from the 'chai', or winery, during harvestime. Their presence, according to superstition, would turn the wine sour."

Source: Wine & War, by Don and Petie Kladstrup, pg 18.


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## Wade E (May 18, 2011)

Youve never done that? I thought it was common practice!!


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## Rock (May 18, 2011)

I bet if we left it to the women it would turn out sweet.


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## djrockinsteve (May 18, 2011)

all that navel fuzz enhanced the flavor.

Imagine the guy who came up with that idea. 

"I got an idea....." ha ha ha ha


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## Wade E (May 18, 2011)

It usually starts like this " Hey, hold my beer for a second"


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## jtstar (May 18, 2011)

I thought that what was going on in the chat room last night


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## Minnesotamaker (May 18, 2011)

yuck 





(disregard everything in these parenthesis, I needed it to meet the character minimum)


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## Flem (May 19, 2011)

Minnesotamaker said:


> yuck
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Lon, you could have said "yuck, yuck, yuck".


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## ibglowin (May 19, 2011)

What's amazing is that the wine somehow still turned out OK after all of that! Kinda funny after yesterday's worrysome thread about not sanitizing scissors before using them to cut open the yeast packet!


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## woodsxdragon (May 19, 2011)

part of me wants to make a comment about women not being allowed and yeast infections... but i'm not feeling witty today. anyways... kinda cool except it kinda kills all the modern ideas of sanitizing.


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## PPBart (May 19, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> What's amazing is that the wine somehow still turned out OK after all of that!



You wanta define "OK" ?


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## ibglowin (May 19, 2011)

Wtf............?



ppbart said:


> you wanta define "ok" ?


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## Minnesotamaker (May 21, 2011)

Something tells me that the "piggers" came out more sanitized while the wine became not so much. Maybe this is where the term "hogwash" came from?


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## GerardVineyard (May 21, 2011)

If you google images for pigeage, there are ladies doing it, including Lucile Ball.


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## ibglowin (May 21, 2011)

Too funny. What did we do before "the Google" ........


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## Runningwolf (May 21, 2011)

GerardVineyard said:


> If you google images for pigeage, there are ladies doing it, including Lucile Ball.



I never knew what it was called until just now.


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## ibglowin (May 21, 2011)

Bwahahahahahahaha...

In your dreams!


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## Runningwolf (May 21, 2011)

You can't see me. I dropped my watch and was retrieving it. Notice they're all smiling!


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## Minnesotamaker (May 21, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> You can't see me. I dropped my watch and was retrieving it. Notice they're all smiling!



I'd even say they're laughing....... that could be good or bad...hmmmmm


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## Runningwolf (May 22, 2011)

Dang Lon burst my bubble. They are doing both, can't you see them holding me under the surface?


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## Brintk (May 22, 2011)

Minnesotamaker said:


> Something tells me that the "piggers" came out more sanitized while the wine became not so much. Maybe this is where the term "hogwash" came from?



Given the accepted level of personal hygiene back in those days, I'll bet this process added some unique yeasts to the must.


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