Racking

Racking wine means to take it out of the container in which it fermented. This also has the effect of taking the wine off of the heavy (gros) lees – the dead yeast that settle to the bottom of the solution. Racking can either mean moving the wine into the container in which it will age until bottling, or, to a container in which it will undergo malolactic fermentation… before being racked again into the aging container.