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GRAPE GRO WING Harvest Technology Comes of Age Multi-purpose equipment demonstrates value during adversity By Thomas Ulrich the air-conditioned cabin of an over-the- row tractor, he eased up on the throttle, nudged the steering wheel to the left, swung the mechanical harvester onto a tractor path and emptied three tons of Chardonnay into a gondola bound for Cuvaison Estate Wines in Napa, Calif. W ith several inches of rain predicted along California's North Coast, Moises Frias raced to gather what was left of the 2011 harvest. From Highlights • mechanical harvesters and optical sort- ers can pick and sort many times faster than field crews harvesting and sorting fruit by hand. • A gondola that drains juice into a stainless-steel chamber beneath the holding tank can reduce the time from harvest to tank by nearly half. • mechanical harvesters and optical sort- ers can reduce the number of field and winery workers, accelerate production and preserve the quality of grapes. During the most recent growing season, vineyard managers faced a cold, wet spring that produced infertile flowers, shot berries and a shorter than average veraison that required many of them to drop loads of immature fruit. "Lower than expected yields and unpredictable weather combined to make the mechanical harvester and optical sorter an important part of this year's harvest," said Steven Rogstad, winemaker for Cuvaison Estate Wines. "The machines processed grapes more quickly and selected berries more care- 86 Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2012 A handful of workers operating the Selecitiv' Process Harvester (above) and Vision Optical Sorter can process more than 40 tons of fruit per day. fully than fruit harvested and sorted by hand." With local vineyard managers report- ing yields of 75% for Chardonnay and 55% for Pinot Noir, a colder than normal summer and the threat of rain, field crews hustled to harvest balanced fruit. "The beauty of this ranch is that it is divided into discrete blocks for picking," Rogstad said of the 400-acre Carneros vineyard. "The change in elevation and the small size of the vineyard blocks give us a variation in ripeness." But lower than average yields and uneven ripeness made it a challenge to harvest fruit that was both flavorful and ripe. "A block of Pinot Noir that normally produces 4 tons," Rogstad said, "yielded three-quarters of a ton this year." And according to some vineyard managers, the early October rainstorm lowered sugar levels and created perfect conditions for Botryitis. With so much at stake, the 2011 har- vest provided winemakers and vineyard managers with ideal circumstances to evaluate multi-purpose harvesters, optical sorters and a new gondola that separates the juice from berries before the grapes even reach the winery. Ahead of the curve At approximately $300 per ton, mechani- cally harvesting and sorting grapes makes sense for many vineyard managers and winemakers. Harvesting and sorting pre- mium grapes by hand can be several times more expensive, but it is a complicated decision that demands more than simply