How are Grapes Harvested for Winemaking?
February 04, 2019
Harvesting Grapes for Winemaking
The first step in winemaking is harvesting grapes. Traditionally, grapes were handpicked for winemaking but now we have an alternate way of harvesting grapes—mechanical harvesting. This method was first introduced in the 1960s and has been adopted by many wineries all around the world for various benefits that it offers. There are some wineries that still prefer hand-picked grapes and they have their reasons for it. Both methods have their pros and cons.
Mechanical Harvesting
It is cheaper than hand-picked grapes but the machine doesn’t distinguish between healthy, rotted grapes or unripe grapes. They have to be sorted at the winemaking facility by people. Further, there is a risk of damaging grapes which would make them unfit for making wine. Damaged or broken grapes oxidize.
One of the advantages of this method besides its low cost is the number of grapes that a machine can harvest. It is usually a lot more than hand-pickers. It proves quite helpful in hot climates, where the harvest of grapes has to be completed in the night.
Hand-picking
Many wineries take pride if grapes are hand-picked despite their cost and output as compared to mechanical harvesting. The workers will only pick healthy bunches and they handle these bunches gently. There are some wines like Sauternes that involves botrytized bunches to be handpicked. Also, some grape varietals are not easy to shake off the stem, the machine could damage the grapes, it’s better to hand pick them. This labour-intensive method is costlier than the other one.
Apart from these methods, there are certain factors to determine the optimal time of harvest based upon the ripeness of the grapes, determined by sugar, tannin and acid level.
On one hand, mechanical harvesting has made wines cheaper and on the other, hand-picked grapes is a safer yet expensive method. Being said that, both methods have their pros and cons and it depends on the winemaker.
Any viticulturists/ winemakers reading this post, which method of harvesting grapes have you been following? Do share in the comment section below!
