It's Harvest Time!

It's harvest time in the Yakima Valley. Vineyards are laden with clusters of grapes. The grapes have been carefully nurtured over the summer and in the fall, harvest begins.

How do you tell if the grapes are ripe?

Vineyard owners carefully test the grapes for flavour, sugar and acid to determine when is the best time to harvest.

What is an average yield per acre?

Depending on the variety of the grape, an average yield would be from 3 to 6 tons per acre.

So how do we get from this ...

... to this?

Harvesters speed the grapes to processing at their peak

Once the grapes are ready for picking, speed is of the essence as every minute counts in the difference between a good wine and an excellent wine. Harvesters can move into the vineyards at a moment's notice.

Harvesting the Grapes

The harvesting head shakes the clusters from the vines and they travel up the conveyor into the hopper.

Traveling down the rows of vines, the harvester can harvest at a rate of two acres per hour.

Some varieties are harvested by hand, such as Syrah.

Grapes travel down the conveyor into the hopper

While hand-picked grapes are harvested by plucking off the whole cluster, machine-picking gathers just
the grapes.

Processing begins

The newly harvested grapes are tipped into the receiving hopper.

Grapes in the full receiving hopper await the start of the pressing process.

Receiving Hopper and Press

This machinery takes the newly harvested grapes and transports them into the press, where the juice is pressed off the berries.

Sediment is separated from the juice

As the newly pressed juice sits, sediment gathers at the bottom of the sloped pan.

Fermentation of White Wines

Fermentation of white wines takes place in temperature-controlled tanks.

Aging of Red Wines

Aging of red wines in oak barrels can take from 10 to 20 months, depending on the variety and style of wine.