(Bonappetit) - Trying to explain carbonic maceration is like trying to explain a song you heard on the radio when you have no idea who sang it or what they were singing about or why you even enjoyed it. The song was just upbeat and felt good. Does that sound kind of like the light red wines you’ve been loving with that fruity, poppy quality you can’t quite put your finger on? Yep. That’s carbonic maceration, the pop music of wine fermentations.

Like any Top 40 hit, carbonic maceration follows a formula. Most wines are made by picking the grapes, stemming those grapes, crushin’ dem grapes, and then putting the juice in steel fermentation tanks before aging the juice in the winemaker’s vessel of choice (oak, concrete, amphora, etc.). But with carbonic maceration, a winemaker skips stemming and crushing and instead puts full bunches of grapes into steel fermentation tanks that are sealed and filled with carbon dioxide, creating an anaerobic atmosphere without any oxygen.