ручне чи механізоване збирання врожаю

Grape harvest – the process of gathering of grapes – is a moment with a strong impact on the success of the wine because it contributes significantly to define quality and organoleptic characteristics of the final product. One of the fundamental decisions that producers must make is whether to use machine or hand harvest. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages because they influence several aspects of wine production, from grape quality to human resources management.

Hand grape harvest

Hand grape harvest is the manual gathering of grapes by workmen without mechanical tools. It’s a technique of traditional harvesting, that is rooted in history, and it is based on the expertise of the operator.

The main advantage of this type of harvesting lies in the quality of the product obtained: it’s known as “qualitatively selective grape harvest” because bunches and grapes are chosen according to their health state and, with a gradual harvest, only grapes with a perfect and homogeneous degree of maturation are harvested.

In addition, manual selection allows to keep out from the harvest all Materials Other than Grapes (including leaves, branches, pieces of bark, vine shoots, etc.) and to preserve the integrity of the grape. Breaking grapes would cause juice leak, triggering a series of unexpected oxidative and pre-fermentative reactions and problems that will reduce the quality of the final product.

The most obvious disadvantage of hand harvesting is connected to workforce costs. This method requires a high availability of human resources and a lot of time. It’s estimated that manual harvesting is three times more expensive compared to mechanical harvest.

In some cases, the producer can’t choose the harvesting method and manual harvest is the only possible solution. Some policies for wines production, in fact, impose it as harvesting method to obtain a high-quality wine. In other cases, instead, it’s the terrain conformation that makes impossible the use of machineries: in the Italian landscape it’s enough to think about vineyards of Cinque Terre or Valtellina.

The choice of manual harvesting is increasingly used as a marketing lever because it’s always more frequently associated with tradition and an environmentally sustainable choice.

Mechanical grape harvest

Mechanical grape harvest is carried out by grape harvesters, specific machines that pick grapes by shaking the vine.

Compared to manual option, this method has as main advantage the decrease of harvesting times and workforce costs. Especially chosen by those who have big quantities of product to pick, it needs an inferior number of workers and has an incomparable speed.

It is important to specify that reducing time during the harvest phase doesn’t result only in lower costs, but also – and above all – in shortening the timeframe in which work is carried out, avoiding exceeding the maturation moment of the grape and delineating the possibility that climate and atmospheric changes, like frosts, hailstorms and excessive rainfalls, may compromise the harvest.

If the choice falls on mechanical harvest, however, it’s important to remember that the selection of grapes won’t be made during the harvest phase, resulting in a loss of quality. In mechanical harvest, in addition to stress caused by the harvest methodology (we remember that grape harvesters don’t cut the bunch, but shake the plant), unripe or too ripe grapes aren’t separated and the sorting of MOG isn’t done, so it must be carried out in winery (here you can find our article about our receiving and sorting systems of grapes in wineries).

In conclusion, the choice between mechanical and hand grape harvest depends on several variables including company’s size, grape type, production objectives and personal preferences of the producer. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages and the challenge for winemakers is to find a balance that satisfies the specific requirements of their wine production.

In a world always more careful to sustainability, the decision between technology and tradition becomes even more important, influencing not only wine quality but also consumer perception and respect of the environment.