Grape Harvesting

Vintners have to decide the best time for harvesting of their grapes. Usually the climate and crop size affects the decision. When harvest time arrives, the winery's livelihood and the vintage is on the line. The date of harvesting can make or break an entire year. Many characteristics of a wine will be affected by the harvesting date including its flavor, aging potential and style. For both red and white wines, immature grapes can lead to wines with poor flavor and insufficient richness and depth. Today it is popular with quality wine producers to pick their grapes based on flavor instead of based on factors such as acidity or sugar level. Harvesting may be performed by machine or by hand. How they are harvested is determined by the type of wine to be produced by the grapes, topography and financial factors. Harvesting by machine is very expensive and may be unaffordable to many smaller producers. Machine harvesting is advantageous because it is faster and more efficient than harvesting by hand. Harvesting machines shake the vine and gather the berries that fall off and then leave the stalks behind. Machine harvesting is possible only on slightly sloping or flat dry land and it is not selective because all the berries are taken from the vines regardless of their health or whether they are ripe. Harvesting by hand is more labor intensive and takes much more time. An advantage of manual harvesting is that the harvester can be selective. Rotten or unripe grapes can be thrown away or left on the vine. Less damage is inflicted on the grapes since bunches are harvested whole. This is a significant advantage because oxidation starts as soon as the grape is punctured. Damage to grapes is also less when harvesting is done by hand because smaller containers are used to transfer the grapes. In some regions only hand harvesting is possible because of the steep vineyards. Most quality wine producers choose to pick by hand because the extra costs are worth the benefits. The greatest benefit is that the harvester can be selective in determining which clusters to harvest and which to leave behind.

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