Diploma D1 Harvest CH9 Flashcards
What is Harvest, end of which cylce
What is considered for Harvest
What are the Steps to Harvest
“Picking” End of grape ripening
Considerations
- Quality and Style
- Legislation
- Logistics
- Cost
- Machine or Hand
1) Chosing Date of Harvest
2) Harvesting Options
When Choosing Harvest Time or Date
- What is rule of thumb rule on days
- What factors come into play
- Typlically 100 days after flowering
- Optimum Sugar Ripness
- Harvesting dates for Specific stules
- Weather forcast, rain
- Aroma and Tannin focus
When measuring ripenss what are the key components
Determining something is ripe
Always take style into consideration
- Sugar Levels - dry wines 19-25 brix (11 -15 ABV)
- Acidity Levels - use titration, or pH of juice by pH meter
- Aroma and Tannin Ripeness - usually determined by taste
TASTING GRAPES!
Although other hightech means are emerging on markets
When harvesting, when would Harvesting dates for particular wine styles come into play
Give Examples
Talk about positive and negative on hang times
For wines with high residual sugar levels, sparkling, dry
Loire - Chennin Blanc over 4 - 6 weeks depending on sparkling (early), dry(mid), off dry (late, botritized)
California - Zinfandel, uneven ripening
Canada - Icewein picked below -8C (-18F)
Acid drops, some consumers like over ripe fruit
Harvesting Options: When and Why would HandHarvesting be Preferred, what are its Advantages and Disadvantages
Used in wine promotion, quality indicator (Assumed)
- Premium Wine Pruducer usually shoot for this
- Remove whole bunch from vines
Adv.
- Highly selective, remove disease, underipe grapes, or extraripe grapes at harvest
- Pickers deal with steeper slopes, irregular rows, mixed plantings in same vineyard
- Handled with care, reduce spoilage
DIs.
- More expensive in medium to large vineyards than machines
- Requires available workforce, training and supervision
- Hard to harvest in daylight hours, too hot, increase chance of microbial spoilages (Some night harvest with torches)
- Raise labor cost, some combat with coops for large ahnd havest or part hand harvest wines
Harvesting Options: When and Why would Machine Harvesting be Preferred, what are its Advantages and Disadvantages
What can you do to improve quality with machine harvesting today, and what costs associated with it
- Inexpensive to mid priced for large scale, especially when planned for it, Exception where labor costs for handharvesting is very low (Ex. South Africa)
Improving quality
- Selecting our undesireable fruit by hand, before macine harvest
- Using bow-rod shaking machine - more gentle (than old machines hitting), slowly vibrates vines with stacked bow shaped arms
- Investing in latest machines- optical sorters (crush white grapes and add SO2 themselves, limit oxidation
- Rigourous sorting at winery on arrival, MOG - Matter other than grapes, unripe, rotten grapes
Adv.
- Faster, cheaper in large vineyards, if deising in mid (one third in cali on average)
- Avoids lach of and unrealiabiliy of worker
- NIght harvest possible, cooler, better condition, preserves freshness of aromas, reduce microbial spoilage and oxidation, saves cost of refrigeration
- Harvest can hapen quickly, afford to wait for desired level of ripeness
Dis.
- In past assiociated with only acceptable to good level quality
- less gentle, involves shaking rather than bunches intact, if style requires avoiding oxidation or extraction of delicate white wines
- Ownership or cost of machine not economic for small vineyards
- Unsuitable for vinyards with multiple untimely grapes on same plot
- Unsuitable for too steep of slopes with limited access
- Quality of work ornly as good as skill of operator
- Competition for rental at moment of harvest
- Major investment to purchase a harvester
When would hand harvesting be required
- Style (sparkling)
- Selection (botrytis effected)
- Steep slopes
- Uneven land
- Bush vines
Some style require hand harvesting, sparkling, semi carbonic (Beaujolais). If style requires selctiong of certain grapes.
