Well, its finally here, folks: the end of the preparation and ministration which marks the pre-harvest year, and the beginning of the long, hectic days which define the harvest. While this marks the official beginning of the harvest, it will be a while before things really get underway—these grapes were picked specifically for a sparkling wine program one of our customers is running, and therefore don’t require the high-levels of sugars that other wines do. We’ll still be waiting a little bit for sugar levels to get high enough for the main harvest to really get underway.

As mentioned previously, this was a hand-pick operation, which is a slower and much more physically-involved means of harvesting grapes, as compared to machine-picking. Despite this, the harvest proceeded quickly and smoothly, a fact which is owed almost entirely to our fantastic hand-picking crews. For most of the year they’re the people out in the vineyards pruning, tying down and otherwise doing what we can’t do with machines. Our foreman, Celistino, has built a truly impressive team over the years, and they practically work miracles out in the vineyards before, during and after harvest.