Harvest in Wine Country

Fall Means Harvesting of Grapes

As I am sitting here writing this from Northern California, the heart of wine country, fall has set in. You can actually feel it in the air—crisp mornings, cool evenings, the sun waning lower and lower in the sky. Ah, autumn. For wine lovers, it’s harvest time in wine country! The grapes are ready and the wineries are gearing up for what we call “crush”. Crush is just that—grapes get picked, then crushed, but it’s also crush time for the wineries as far as working through the night and early mornings. It’s a hectic time of year.

Grape-To-Glass

This is where wine starts. It’s step number one in grape-to-glass as far as the winemaking cycle goes. All of the pruning, thinning, fertigating and attention to detail in the vineyard culminate to the precise moment of picking. But it’s not as easy as that. There is biting of winemaker's fingernails everywhere because harvest season is a fragile time. There is worry about early rains coming and causing mildew, early morning frost that can damage the grapes or even grapes out on the vine that won’t ripen. There is always something, but if the gods smile upon you, everything turns out perfectly.

Behind the Scenes

There is a ton of behind-the-scenes coordination going on that makes the harvest successful. There is testing being done on a daily basis to check for sugar levels and ripeness of the grapes on the vines. An extra day of hang-time on the vine can make a huge difference between a well-balanced wine and an over-ripe wine…it really is that delicate of a balance. Once the winemaker decides that the grapes are ready to be picked, they coordinate their efforts with their vineyard manager and picking crew to plan the picking. Since every winery is doing the same thing, you can imagine how difficult this process is. There are many times when the grapes are picked early or late just because there is no other time that a crew is available to come out and pick—they are in such high demand!

Picking

Picking of the grapes is done when it’s cool. So, that means that vineyards are picked at night or early morning. The reason behind picking when it’s cool is so the sugar levels in the grapes stay consistent. If you pick any fruit when it’s hot and let it sit out in the sun to warm up, the sugar level in the fruit goes up significantly. So, picking during the cool times helps keep those sugars under control. If you choose to pick at night, you have to have lights out in the vineyard so the crew can see what they are picking…which is nice, but more costly because of the extra equipment. Picking during the early morning is more cost friendly, but time is short…you only have a few hours before the sun comes up and starts heating things up.

Time is of the Essence!

Once the crew is in the vineyard, it’s amazing how fast they can go through, pick the fruit, throw it in the bin and get through the vineyard. These guys are true artisans. After the grapes are picked, someone sits in the bin and makes sure that only the good grapes are left in, throws out the green/bad grapes, throws out the leaves and just makes sure that the grapes are in good shape when they get to the winery. The bins are then put on the truck and shipped out to the winery for sorting, de-stemming and crushing. Remember, time is of the essence! Frequently you hear about a grape truck that over-turned in the county somewhere because the driver was driving too fast around a corner, etc. trying to truck the grapes to the winery in a hurry.

At the Winery

The grapes arrive to the winery and are put on a sorter conveyor belt to be sorted through again. The grapes are picked through by hand to ensure that only the best grapes go into the wine. They then go into a crusher/de-stemmer that removes the stems from the grapes (some wineries do not do this, it is up to the winemaker and what style they are looking for) and then goes into a press. The press breaks the skins and lets the juice flow and then the mixture is transferred into the tanks. The winemaker makes sure that the grapes go through fermentation and that the whole process goes smoothly. They are busy people at this time, so it is typical for them to be at the winery from early morning to past midnight.

Come Experience for Yourself

Harvest time in wine country is an exciting time…you can feel it in the air and all the winery staff is geared up for this event. It’s a busy period and requires time, patience and devotion by the winemakers and their staff. This period of time frequently makes “Crush-Widows”—a name given to the significant others of the winemaker because they are gone for such long periods of time. It’s the nature of the beast and just a part of the winemaking process. If you get a chance to visit during harvest season, take it! The smell of fermenting grapes is in the air and the vines are just starting to turn color (and once the grapes are picked, that process is sped up considerably). There is a hustle and bustle going on and lots of activity at the wineries. If you do visit, some wineries offer tours and a glimpse into this whole process of harvesting grapes. If you are a wine aficionado, this is a must-see into the wine making process in order to truly see “from grape to glass”. Cheers!