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38 WINES&VINES April 2018 WINERY & VINEYARD EQUIPMENT P am Starr has been making the wines of Crocker & Starr since the winery's founding in 1997. There's always room for improvement, however, and this past harvest she added some new, custom-built equipment to the Napa Valley winery's crush pad. Starr, who owns the estate winery with partner Charlie Crocker, purchased a custom- built sorting table and elevated conveyor from Burgstahler Machine Works in St. Helena, Calif. The vibratory table is fitted with screens, a juice- recovery pan and an air knife that ejects raisins, leaves and other light MOG. "It is not necessary to staff the table with people sorters, as the table does a pretty fantastic job," she said. Most people in the wine industry would agree it's become more difficult to find quality workers, and it likely won't get any easier in the future. One way to reduce the need for manpower is to enhance equipment, and many wineries are doing just that. Improved crush pad and cellar equipment also helps to main- tain or even enhance wine quality. Starr said the conveyor was customized to the height of the fermentation tanks at the winery, which produces 4,000 cases. The con- veyor enables her crew to send sorted and destemmed berries gently and quickly right to the tanks. "Both the sorter and the elevator expedite the processing with fewer hands, and both assist in higher quality both from a sort- specific and gentle process approach," she said. With the new set up, Starr said she typi- cally only needs two workers to process grapes on the crush pad, while a third can focus on quality control. Florent Merlier, head winemaker at Van Duzer Vineyards in Dallas, Ore., said he made two significant investments in equipment for the winery that produces 17,000 cases per year of Pinot Noir and other varietals. One was a dosing and sorting table from Euro- Machines. He said the Scharfenberger VS5 table has a double grid that proved exception- ally helpful when he had to harvest in the rain. "We picked some fruit later, toward the end of the season, under some mild rainfall. It was fairly interesting that the shaking was pulling off surface water on the berries, while the grid was hauling off the water from sort- ing," he said. "I ended up with pristine fruit at perfect maturity and chemistry, even on a rainy day." The other piece of equipment was a new electrical hoist made by Dayton Hoist for lifting the lids of the winery's variable-capacity tanks. "It makes the process easier for my workers and safer, as they are far away from 'the action' in the case of a cable failing from extended age," he said. "I've seen it happen." At Isenhower Cellars in Walla Walla, Wash., owner Brett Isenhower also invested in a new sorting table to help with the produc- tion of his Bordeaux and Rhône variety wines. Isenhower produces 3,500 cases and opted for a Milani table from equipment supplier Criveller. "I was able to increase the speed of processing and able to remove more stem jacks and undesirable berries," he said. "The juice screens enabled me to get rid of shot KEY POINTS Cleaner, quicker processing and more whole berries is the goal on many crush pads. One destemmer is proving popular with Pinot Noir producers. Larger wineries are investing in equipment to automate and control fermentation. Getting Faster, More Efficient on the Crush Pad Wineries invest in new equipment to reduce harvest-time manpower while also enhancing fruit quality By Andrew Adams Each of the tanks at the new Wheeler Farms winery in Napa Valley are monitored and controlled with the TankNet system and can be used for pumpovers or punchdowns.