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GRAPE GRO WING Ledbetter said that some of the early harvesting technology was pretty rough on the vines. A few decades ago, he said, you could tell a machine had gone through by telltale signs of battered vines and torn canes. "Today, with the tech- nology that's out there, you have to get out of your truck to see if the vines were picked by machines." The new technology is also being embraced by the next gen- eration of winemakers, whom Ledbetter said have seen the advantages of machine harvesting. Towle Merritt is a viticulturist with Napa, Calif.-based Walsh Vineyard Man- agement Inc., which operates the new Pellenc Selectiv' Process Harvesters. In a general example, not including hauling and with the assumption that grapes are being picked into half-ton bins, he said the Pellenc system will average $140 per ton, while a hand-harvesting crew would average $385 per ton. (Those costs also include loading area, ground support and night harvesting as a constant.) "Saving money at harvest doesn't work at all if we cannot meet our clients' high wine quality expectations." —Viticulturist Towle Merritt, Walsh Vineyard Management Merritt said the machines may require 90-120 minutes of cleaning, service and set up to be ready for the next shift. Once at a vineyard, they can be picking about 30 minutes after warming up. In compari- son to a hand crew, the machines are not just faster but also require less supervi- sion and extend the working day. Merritt said the machines can average about 1.25 acres per hour. The main interest in Walsh's machines has been quality, Merritt said. The top pri- ority for clients in the Napa and Sonoma area is to preserve the condition of their grapes. "Saving money at harvest doesn't work at all if we cannot meet our cli- ents' high wine quality expectations. Our clients are specifically requesting Pellenc Selectiv' Process Harvesters. We have other harvesters available to our clients, but many do not want to use them. The economics gets them to the door; the tech- nology and quality of harvest pushes it over the top, no matter what the headline is in the business section." On the Central Coast Gregg Hibbits, general manager at Mesa Vineyard Management, based in Temple- ton, Calif., said Mesa owns seven harvest- ers and manages five more. The company uses nine Gregoire machines, two from Braud and one Pellenc. He said costs for machine-harvested fruit tend to average $300-$350 per acre. When compared to hand harvesting, which Hibbits said can run $150-$200 per ton, machines are often the cheaper option. He added that grow- ers should be aware that new machines with equipment like onboard destemmers can yield fruit so clean that they may lose money on total weight. Mesa mainly farms large properties, so Hibbits said he will park a machine at the vineyard until harvesting is finished. He said the company does some custom harvesting, and Hibbits said he likes to have at least 24-hour notice. He admits, though, that harvest is often "organized chaos," and he'll just shoot for noon on the scheduled day to pick. On the Central Coast, Hibbits said machine harvesting has gone mainstream, and only the small- est vineyards (one to two acres) are still harvested by hand. Greg Kovacevich, owner of Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Vineyard Ops Inc., said he gained a few new clients for machine har- vesting during the past vintage because of a lack of labor. He said many of his clients already have long-term agreements that spell out whether to harvest with machines or not as well as the responsibilities of the harvester and grower. Contracts can vary based on what costs the growers and win- eries may be willing to shoulder, such as hauling the harvested grapes. Kovacevich said he prefers just to harvest and leave the hauling to his clients. Kovacevich said growers need to de- termine if their property can be harvested with machines and if the winery on the re- ceiving end can process machine-harvested grapes. He said many of his machines get scheduled at large vineyards for the dura- tion of harvest. In between those larger picks, Kovacevich said he likes to fill in the gaps with custom harvest jobs for growers with vineyards in the range of 20-30 acres. He prefers to visit a vineyard in the winter or spring to get a sense of the terrain, but if a grower calls him and needs a machine, he can probably arrange for one the same week, sometimes with just 24-48 hours INSURANCE FOR WINERIES Great Price, Broad Coverage and Responsive Friendly Service. Wine Team - Debra Costa, Brian Stephenson and Liz Bishop. Because You're Different! 101 Second Street #120 Petaluma, CA 94952 707.781.3400 www.heffins.com License # 0564249 Wines & Vines MARCH 2012 35