GRAPE HARVEST
“Wine-Makers have Style They’re Aiming to Achieve with Grapes at any Particular Vineyard Sight. A Complete Pitcher Must be Assessed Before Picking Decision Made “Perfect Little Window” -Brix, PH., Total Acidity, Flavor Ripeness, Phenolic Ripeness, Seed Ripeness, Color of Skin.”
HARVEST= Process of Picking Grape from Vine and Transporting Them to Winery to Initiate Wine Production.
AKA= Crush, Recolte, Vendange, Vendemmia, Erute, Cosecha, Colleita
-The Few Weeks Before Harvest are a Nerve-Racking for Grape Growers. Many Miles and Row are Walked Pondering Sugar Levels and Harvest Date.
-Best Vintages are Dry for the 2 Months Before Harvest Period
-Grape are Considered a Perennial Crop.

APPELLATION/ Appellation Designate- Wine Produced Entirely From Grapes Produced In One Appellation
SINGLE VINEYARD/ Lieu-Dit/ Vineyard Designate/ Site Specific- Wine Produced Entirely From Grapes Produced From One Vineyard. Single Vineyard Wines are the Best Representation of a Location and its Terroir. A Single Vineyard Delineates Specific Quality of a Specific Piece of Land.
-France- Grand Cru -Germany- Einzellage
VINEYARD BLOCK/ Block Designate- A Sub-Section of a Vineyard, Usually Broken Up
by Topographic or Varietal or Micro-Climate Reasons
BLOCK QUADRANT- A Sub-Section of a Block
-A Vineyards Parcels or Sections Vary by Varietal/ Clone, Altitude, Soil. Individual Parcels are Isolated and Harvested and Fermented Separately. Later the Wines Can be Bottled Separately or Blended Together to Achieve Different Outcome or Styles.
LIEU-DIT/ Said Location- (French) Small Geographic Area Bearing a Traditional Name
MONOPOLE= An Grape Growing Area Controlled by a Single Winery. It Can Be as Small as a Vineyard or as Large as a Entire Appellation.

“Important Monopole of the World”
Les Ruelies, La Mission (Premier Cru) @MERCUREY AOC.
La Tache, La Grande Rue (Grand Cru) @VOSNE-ROMANEE AOC.
Clos Marechaudes, Clos Corton Faiveley (Grand Cru) @ALOXE-CORTON AOC.
Clos de la Marechale, Clos de Thorey (Premier Cru) @NUITS-ST.-GEORGES AOC.
Clos de L’ecu, Clos des Ursule (Premier Cru) @BEAUNE AOC.
Clos des Ducs, Clos de la Bousse d’Or (Premier Cru) @VOLNAY AOC.
Chateau-Grillet @ Rhone Savenneires- Coulee-de-Serrant @Loire

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VINTAGE= Year In Which The Grapes Where Harvested
-Northern Hemisphere- Grape Grown and Ripening Take Place In the Same Calendar Year.(Ice-Wine Harvested In January, but Vintage Date Given for Previous Year
-Southern Hemisphere- Half of Growth and Development Take Place Previous Year but Vintage Date Given for Year the Grapes Where Harvested
-Vintage Dates Became Important Only When it Became Possible to Store Wine effectively Effectively After the Year it was Produced.
-1600’s and 1700’s Vintage Truly Became Important When New Cork and Bottle technologies Technologies Became Prevalent.

-There has Become a Correlation Between Quality of a Finished Wine and the Quality of the Grape Grown and Also a Correlation with the Quality of the Grapes and the Weather During the Growing Season
VINTAGE VARIATION= Difference of How Wine Tastes Year to Year Based On Influence of Weather. Cooler Climate Areas are More Variable and Prone to Vintage Variation from Vintage to Vintage.
-Vintage Chart- Summarize the Quality and Character of the Wines from a Particular Region In a Specific Year. Vintage Charts are General In Nature but Can Guide Consumers In Making Better Choices When Faced with Unfamiliar Wine from Unfamiliar Countries. Vintage Charts are Also Helpful In Determining When a Wine is Ready to Drink.
HISTORY- England’s International Wine & Food Society Put Out What is Believed to be the First Vintage Chart.
-Vintage Dates Should be Taken More More Seriouly In Certain Wine Produceing Countrys of the World…It’s Generally Always Sunny and a Good Vinetage Throughout California, Unlike France Where it Can be Sunny One Summer and Have Long Periods Bad Weather the Next.
-Poor Vintages for Red Wines In a Particular Region or Appellation Can Lead to a Great Vintage for White Wines In the Same area and Vice-Versa.
HARVEST FESTIVAL= Many Regions/ Villages Gave Festivals to Celebrate Harvest with Traditions i.e. Harvest Queens, Games, Food, Competitions.
-Northern Hemisphere- Late August-Early November….Ice Wine January
-Southern Hemisphere- March-April

WINEMAKERS VINTAGE= A Vintage/ Harvest Dictated by the Decisions of the Grape Grower/ Wine Maker and Not Nature. A Winemakers Vintage Goes Perfectly, No Weather Episodes and No Creature Factors.
HAVEST VINTAGE= A Vintage/ Harvest Dictated by Nature, One In Which Nothing Goes Right, One In Which the Perfect Wine is Just Not Able to be Made

ATTENTIVE ANALYSIS= Monitoring and Careful Watching of the Analytical Numbers Pertaining to Grape Development Late In the Growing Season Prior to Harvest.
-Brix, Total Acidity, PH. All are Highly Monitored in Weeks Before Harvest
-Potential Hydrogen-Ion Concentration=PH. -Measure Acidity vs. Alkalinity
BRIX= Sugar Content of Grape (Specific Gravity) 2 Brix= 1%Abv.
-Reds Harvested @24*-26*(or Sooner) Whites@22*-24*
-1* Brix Yields .55 – .64% Grams of Alcohol Depending On Yeast Strain and Variants
-Example- 26* Brix= 13% Abv.
PIONEERS- -Adolf Brix- Austrian Who Developed Scale for Measuring Sugar Levels
REFRACTOMETER= Optical Device Use to Measure Brix
-Harvest Day Determined by Brix Level from Refractometer but Also the Wine Maker Depends of his Well Defined Palate to Guide His Decision.
VITICULTURE- Optimal to Bring In Harvested Grapes at a Temperature of 45* or Cooler,
This is Why Most Grapes are Harvested In the Early Morning Hours.

LATE HARVEST- Grapes Left of Vine Longer Than Usual Harvest to Ripen Past Regular Brix Level. Late Harvest Grapes Partially Resinate On Vine Leaving Higher Sugar Levels and Gives Potential for Added Sweetness and Higher Alcohol Level.
A VINE PERSONALITY= Over Years and Decades the Vines in the Vineyard Start to Reveal Personalities and Slight Differences That are Consistent Year to Year.
ICE WINE- Bunches Left Vine to Freeze Into Winter Months
-Harvest Done In Morning Hours, Grapes at 4am. Will Have Lower Brix Than Previous Afternoon Because Grapes are Fully Hydrated
**Refer to “WINE STYLE/ Ice Wine” for Detailed Information

MANUAL/ Hand HARVEST= Cutting Stem of Individual Bunches of Grapes, and Placing In Container “Burgundian Method”
-Slower and Labor Intense, but Allow for Detailed Grape Selection
-Most Quality Produces Choose to Hand Harvest
-Once Grape Has Dispatched from Stem it’s Called and Considered a Berry.
MATERIAL OTHER THAT GRAPES MOG.- Term Used to Refer to Debris Like Leaves, Dirt, Stems, Birds Nests, Dead Rats That Can be Collected Unintentionally or from Poor Mechanically Harvested Practices While Harvesting Grapes.
GREEN HARVEST= Unevenly Ripened Berries and Smaller Bunches Removed and “Dropped” On the Ground. Green Harvest Will Allow for Remaining Bunches to Ripen Together and the Grape-Vine to Concentrate its Energy on the Remaining Fruit.
HARVESTING TOOLS= Tools That Have Evolved Over Hundreds of Years to Help Make Harvesting
-Harvest Shears- Long Pointed Needle Nose Blades. (Straight or Curved)
-Picking Lugs- These Lugs Offer an Efficient Method to Protect and Transport Bunches In High Quality, Impact Resistant, Hand-Held Containers. Picking Lugs Have 30-40
Pound Capacity. This Allow for Less Fruit and Less Weight On Bottle Fruit to Prevent Weight of Bunches from Bursting Skins and Commencing Fermentation.
-Harvest Bins- Durable, Bulk Containers, Usually for Transportation or Storage
-Macro Bins- Half Ton Bins/ Ton Bins- These Bins are Used to Go from the Vineyard to the Winery, Making Transportation and Logistics Easy. Macro Bins Can be Used for Harvest, Transportation and Also as a Fermentation Container.

GLEANING= Picking of Leftover Grapes After Harvest
-Grapes In Single Vineyard Ripen at Different Times. A Completed Harvest May Take Several Passes Through Vineyard or Tries.
PASSES- Number to Times Individual (Usually Vineyard Manager) Walks Through a Vineyard During a Season. It’s Though That 25+ Passes Through Vineyard to Complete Entire Season, Start to Finish.
TRIES= Number of Time it Takes to Harvest a Vineyard.
-One Day the “Morning Sun” Side of the Rows are Picked, Days Later the “Afternoon Sun” Side of the Rows are Picked.
-In the Mosel Valley of Germany, There Might be 4+ Tries to Pick the Bunches at all the Different Sweetness Levels.
SECOND HARVEST= The Second Time Through a Vineyard to Pick the Bunches That Where Considered Unripe, Small, or Inferior. The Second Harvest is Sometimes Done by the Primary Grape Grower or the Rights to Perform Second Harvest
Sold-Off to Another Party at a Discounted Price.
WINE In the BIBLE- “When Thou Gatherest the Grapes of thy Vineyard, thou Shalt not Glean it Afterward: it Shall be for the Stranger, the Fatherless, and the Widow.”

MECHANICAL HARVEST= Rolling Machine Down Rows Shaking the Vine and Collection the Grapes That Fall Off
VITICULTURE BENEFIT- Faster/ Cheaper Than Hand Harvest
-Mechanical Harvesters Can Process Up to 2 Acres per Hour/ Takes 20 Skilled Laborers an Hour to do 1 Acres
-Harvest Can be Performed In Early Morning Without Light
VITICULTURE CHALLENGE- -Requires Considerable Investment
-Sometimes Grapes Breaks Open and Start to Oxidize and Potentially Start Premature Fermentation
-Only Feasible On Flat or Gently Sloping, Dry Vineyards
-Some Trellis Systems are Too Narrow For Mechanical Harvester

“Mechanical Harvest Machine Companies”
-New Holland- USA. -Gregoire- Australia
-Oxbo- USA. -Pellenc- France

HARVEST/ CROP YIELDS= Amount of Grapes Picked/ Harvested from a Particular Vineyard of Plot
“Factors Effecting Yields”
Varietal Berry Size
Number of Bunches per Vine Number of Berries per Bunch
Number of Vines per Acre Canopy Management
Vine Training Pruning
Vigor Water Stress
“Success of Fruit-Set”…Frost, Hail, Weather
Local Wine Laws/ AOC./ DOC.
“Measurements Yields”
“Volume” of Wine per Vineyard Hectare Hectoliters per Hectare…Hl/ ha
“Mass” of Grapes Harvested per Hectare Tons per Hectare/ Acre…Ton/ ha.
-Yield= +Expression +Complexity, Strengthen Vine, Control Pest
+YIELD=
OVERCROPPING= Purposefully Not Pruning During Winter, Over Fertilizing, and Not Cutting Back To Achiever Higher Yields Which Results In Lower Quality Grapes, More Juice but Lack Ripeness, Color, Sugar,
ARRACHAE= Ripping Out Vines
END PRODUCT FOR GRAPES= Eating Grapes, Raisins, Grape Juice, Wine, Distillation for Spirits or Distillation for Medicine