Vineyard Ops, Inc. - Harvesting

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Mechanical Grape Harvesting

Vineyard Ops. Inc. specializes in mechanical grape harvesting, which is the most efficient method of removing grapes from the vines during the harvest. A mechanical harvester will gently vibrate the vines and allow the grapes to drop into a conveyer belt. The grapes are then transported to a bin and either crushed and pressed immediately in the vineyard, or trucked to the winery for fermentation. This method of harvesting grapes is typically done at night to take advantage of the cool temperatures.

Benefits Over Hand Picking

TIMING - The main benefit of mechanical harvesting is that once the grapes are ripe and have the ideal sugar acid balance, those grapes should be picked and delivered to the winery as soon as possible, mechanical harvesting is the quickest and most effective method of harvesting.

SPEED - Mechanical harvesting has the advantage of speed. Four hand harvesters can pick about one acre of grapes a day; a mechanical harverster, which uses a crew of five to harvest around the clock, can harvest 10 to 20 acres a day.

COST - Mechanical harvesting is also cheaper, especially as yields increase: most estimates say that hand harvesting costs $125 to $150 a ton, while machine harvesting costs $65 to $85 a ton.

TERRAIN - Steep slopes have always been a challenge, but Vineyard Ops. can harvest on all terrains. We have been able to harvest on slopes of up to 35% and side slopes of up to 30%.

Equipment

We have four Braud SB Series Grape Harvesters and one Braud VX Series Grape Harvester. The Braud Harvesters utilize the most advanced harvesting technology available today. For technical data and dimensions, please visit Euro Machines web site at www.EuroMachinesUSA.com.

More Information

For more information about mechanical harvesting, read the following article "Machine harvesting for quality-grape harvesting" by Larry Walker. Also, research in the Department of Food Science has shown that mechanically harvested grapes can have better quality than hand-harvested grapes (see article).