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GRAPE GRO WING notice. "Harvest is so fast and furious, it's really difficult to make too many long- range plans," he said. While he can run the machines at any time of the day to pick, he prefers to oper- ate at night, when it's cooler. Vineyard Ops has six Braud machines and can harvest from Lake County to the Central Coast. In past vintages, Kovacevich said he's gone from Healdsburg to Paso Robles and can be set up to run in 20 hours. "When you've only six weeks to make 90% of your rev- enue, you make it happen," he said. 90% in New York Dr. Timothy E. Martinson, senior exten- sion associate with Cornell University, said that even in New York—the birth- place of the mechanical grape harvester in the United States—some growers were skeptical of machines. These were owners of smaller vineyards who prided them- selves on producing premium grapes. However, as technology improved from some of the first-generation Chisholm- Ryder machines to harvesters with gentler processing methods, more growers opened up to the methods. And it takes just a few challenging vintages for growers to see the benefit "It does a fantastic, clean job, and if you have the right operator that's dialed in correctly, it makes all the difference in the world." —Mark Neal, owner, Jack Neal vineyard management of harvesting in terms of acres per hour rather than days. "That seems to change a lot of minds about it." Now Martinson estimates that more than 90% of the region's winegrapes are harvested with machines. In addition to being cheaper and quicker, Martinson said the machines enable growers to manage the varying ripening patterns of the many different varieties of grapes in the state. Some trellis styles like split canopy, Lyre trellis and head-trained vines do not work with machine harvesting. Older wires, posts and sprinklers may not be able to hold up to machine harvesting. And just like other vineyard machines, harvesters can be limited when the ground is satu- rated after heavy rain. While the harvest- ers continue to improve, many hillside vineyards remain inaccessible. Machines may require fewer workers, but operators need to be trained to drive the machines and coordinate the speed of the harvesting apparatuses, machines and ancillary trucks or tractors. Operator must dial in Mark Neal, owner of Napa Valley vine- yard management company Jack Neal and Son, owns two Pellenc harvesters. "They're beautiful machines, and they do a great job," he said. "It does a fantastic, clean job, and if you have the right opera- tor that's dialed in correctly, it makes all the difference in the world." Neal said he has seen an increase in demand for machine-harvested fruit, and that's largely because quality has im- proved. "It's not always 100% the answer, but the quality aspect of the machines is something a lot of people need to look at." Some of the newest machines feature sorting systems on board, but one limitation 36 Wines & Vines MARCH 2012