Viticulture - Grape harvest

6 important questions on Viticulture - Grape harvest

How do winemakers harvest grapes?

It can be done manually or mechanically

What are the pros and cons for the manual harvest?

  • PROS: More precise and sort out the grapes by selecting the best ones
  • CONS: Time consuming, more expensive and it's often difficult to hire people

What are the pros and cons for the mechanical harvest?

  • PROS: faster and cheaper
  • CONS: still not as accurate as the hand harvesting. It can damage the grapes during the harvest. Unable to harvest the whole grape clusters but only the individual grapes and this can be a problem if the winemakers wants to macerate the grapes with the stems to make red wine.
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What are the 3 factors that will determine the harvest date?

Generally winemakers harvest when the desired sugar and acidity levels are reached in the grapes.
  1. Weather conditions
  2. White or red grape
  3. Variety of grape

What are the characteristics of the weather conditions?

Due to global warming and the drastic changes in the weather, harvests take place earlier that before --> The acidity decrease and sugar level increases faster in warmer weather and winemakers are alwaysin search of the right balance (E.g. In case of rainy weather, the grape might be damaged by diseases such as grey mold)

What are the characteristics of variety of grapes?

The grape variety can also impact the date of harvest as not all varietals ripen at the same pace. For example, Merlot ripens faster than Mourvèdre.

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