Aglianico and Montepulciano Harvest
The Aglianico and Montepulciano harvest for 2021 is complete! It was such a fun time but as always it is nice to have all the grapes out of the vineyard.
The Grapes
The grapes have been looking so good and now they finally have reached their full ripeness!!! Pictured above are some clusters of Aglianico, our last variety to harvest. They took their sweet time to get ripe but they made it!
Harvesting the Reds for 2021
Aglianico and Montepulciano are our final grapes to harvest from the vineyard. They have the most complex flavors that really develop in the last couple of weeks. Those complex flavors are what make the wines so full bodied.
As you can see, the vines have already put on their fall colors for the harvest! It sure made for a bunch of pretty pictures at harvest time.
Dumping the Harvester
When the harvester is coming down the row, the dump buggy starts to get ready to get those grapes. Then by the time the harvester is finished with the row, the dump buggy is ready and waiting for the next load of grapes!
The harvester can hold 3 tons of fruit in it's onboard bins. We can usually harvest a row before we need to dump the bins but if the fruit load is light, we can get more rows in.
Now the harvester is ready and starting up the next row! It will keep up the pattern until we're all done.
Now it is time to head to the barn and get those little bins filled!
Filling the Little Bins
When we have a bunch of bins to fill, we stack the bins 3 high. Even though it looks neat, it is more dangerous for the person on top so we normally stick to 2 bins high (as seen here).
The Semi Truck
Once the bins are filled, they are loaded into the semi truck. We fill a refrigerated semi truck with the bins and then they are ready to head to the winery!
Aglianico and Montepulciano Harvest is Finished!
Now the grapes are gone from the vineyard to the wineries and the vines are ready for their long winter sleep. It is so nice to be finished with another season in the vineyard but as always there is still work to do.
Now, we will work in the winery/barn on our wines and the new grapes to be made into wine! As always, we are looking forward to next year and new grapes! It is exciting to wait and see what the Lord has in store for us.
While you wait for more winery posts, be sure to check out the links below for more vineyard posts!