Story by Jolaine Collins Photos by Richard Green
Vineyard crews harvest while California sleeps
daytime heat can alter sugar levels and increase a wine’s alcohol content during fermentation— qualities a winemaker must anticipate in choosing when to harvest. Cool temperatures also offer more comfortable conditions for the crews, and there are fewer vineyard hazards such as bees to contend with. Finally, night harvests increase winery efficiencies. Cooler grapes don’t require mechanical chilling before being crushed or fermented—which results in lower energy usage. And once the sun rises, a new crew can switch to grapes that are more adaptable to being harvested in warmer daytime temperatures, such as cabernet sauvignon. Each varietal can be picked, transported and processed at different times during a 24-hour schedule, which becomes a critical advantage when several vineyards reach their peak for harvesting at the same time. See what happens during a night harvest on the following pages, through photos taken during previous years at Garys’ Vineyard and Pisoni Vineyards in Monterey County.
It’s after midnight as tractors rumble among rows of grapes, their bright spotlights piercing the inky darkness and illuminating the space between vines while lines of crew members wearing headlamps work deliberately and meticulously to harvest each delicate grape cluster by hand. The sounds of staccato clipping, a rustle of swift footsteps and the clatter of grape lugs being emptied into half-ton bins are reminders that this crew’s mission is to methodically clear the vines and send the fruit on its way before the sun begins to shine on a new day. Each fall, nighttime grape harvests create dramatic scenes in vineyards across California. The practice is favored bymany vineyardmanagers andwinemakers, especially those who work with delicate grapes such as chardonnay and pinot noir. Night harvests offer cooler temperatures, which helpmaintain freshness in the fruit and preserve the elegant, bright f lavors and concentrated aromas winemakers strive for. While sugar composition in grapes remains stable in the cool of the night,
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