Harvest, when man wins over technology

By Roberto Lo Russo

Someone said that wine is made in the vineyard, that the only way to achieve a high quality wine is to have care of the vine and of its fruits since the very beginning of the ripening season (actually, since the planting of the vineyard itself, but “ripening season” sounds more romantic…).

Why am I saying this? For a very simple and unquestionable statement: to get a high quality final product, high quality raw materials are required. It’s to say, the more care the producer will have in spring and summer, the higher chances to achieve perfectly ripe berries, healthy and fully equipped in terms of aromatic compounds that will be then transferred into the bottle.

Just a bit more than a vegetable garden?

Even to non-expert eyes vineyard management could appear just a bit more than little vegetable garden well trimmed that just need to get few yellow leaves stripped off and – when authorized – to be watered a bit (within EU, and therefore in Italy as well, irrigation is generally forbidden with some exceptions), the reality says something well different. Vineyard activities are high in number, from soil management to vine management and, nowadays, there’s much more technology that we could possibly imagine, especially from a data sourcing point of view (temperature, humidity, evapotranspiration, just to name a few) that help the producer to plan actions very precisely and effectively.

We’re now at the peak – for someone it’s already over – of the harvest season. And this is the very moment, among others, when all the available technology is not yet able to take over an essential skill, that can really make the difference of the vintage: it’s called experience.

The decision

The day to start harvesting is based on the analysis of many parameters – from sugar content to acidity levels, from aromatic compounds to weather forecast – continuously monitored as potential day come closer. The alignment of all the stars composing the harvest constellation is named “ripening”. When the grape is considered fully ripe (we should actually say “properly ripe”) based on the final result the producer is seeking in the bottle, then the right moment has come.

Refractometer, titration, spectroscopy and many other violent words are used as technology back up to confirm the ripening level of the berries, but no tools can yet take over the people that are about to tangibly start the harvest. Agronomist (responsible for the vineyard) and oenologist (responsible for the winery processes), dealing with the commercial targets of the owner, agree on the beginning of harvest.

Effort and magic

The harvest is possibly – well, let’s get rid of “possibly” and let’s state a more accurate “definitely” – the toughest moment for all workers, made of sweating, tiredness, very long day close to the ground, all wrapped by stress of making sure grapes arrive as rapidly as possible to the winery but still healthy and unbroken in order to avoid spontaneous and uncontrolled alcoholic fermentations.

Despite the super-intense period, well noticeable even from the outside, harvest is a magical moment in which all the energy put into the ripening season gets to its peak. Should you find yourself nearby a vineyard that is being harvested, don’t be fooled in looking at people (often) seated as they cut the bunches off the vines: they are not taking their time, they’re working as fast as they can, but taking as much care as they can to aoid any wastage of bunches, being each one precious. In many old towns historically devoted to wine production, where many wineries are located in the heart of the town itself, you could see first-hand the grape reception and the beginning of the production process (sorting, destemming, just to name a few). Should it happens to you, stop and admire with discretion: what looks to you an interesting show is for people working a very important moment!

Celebration

What about when harvest is over, then? Well, the world is the same wherever you go. End of harvest party is on (in Italy for example there’re plenty of this celebrations). And this is because the harvest has always marked the chance to sustain family and workers for the year to come. Nowadays this function is much less important than in the past, but for people leaving on wine production, it still marks the moment in which the owner can declare a positive outcome for the next year.

As you pour the next glass of wine then, along with aroma and taste appreciation, let’s take a moment to value how much experience and care have been applied to pick up that specific day, not one earlier nor one later, to start off the harvest. And if you’re having a wine with many years on its back, let’s try to imagine those people that, not knowing it, in those days back in the past, where working hard for you, to bring you an emotion many years later, putting all their effort to send you a message in the bottle.