Grape harvest: ripening dates and useful tips

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Each harvest stands out from the previous one with grape maturity, sugar content and acidity. Therefore, it is important to choose the right time to start harvesting. Let us consider in more detail the rules for a competent cut of grapes, as well as measures for its conservation.

Signs of maturity

The most important indicators for establishing the moment of picking berries are:

• It contains sugar.
• Acidity.

The industrial maturity of grapes differs from the technical condition of the fruit. This means that the fruits contain as much sugar, acids and other substances as needed to obtain the desired type of wine (table or dessert). Technical maturity is determined by the results of chemical analysis.

In addition to this indicator, it is important to distinguish between the full and physiological maturity of the fruit. When the fruits are fully ripe, the level of sugar and acids stabilizes for a certain period, mainly for several days.

Keep the yeast

Beginners in winemaking, using traditional recipes, preparewine with wild yeast. Colonies of microorganisms in abundance "live" on the surface of grapes. To start the natural fermentation process, it is necessary that such “savages” get into the wort. Otherwise, the sugar that fits in the berries will not ferment completely or not ferment at all. For this reason, the grapes are not washed before processing. If the berries are heavily soiled, wipe them with a dry cloth.

In order to preserve as much wild yeast as possible, winemakers advise following simple guidelines during the grape harvest:

1. No need to pick bunches of berries immediately after the rain, and also for three days after it. This is due to the fact that most of the yeast is washed away by water flows, and it takes time for those that remain alive to have time to breed. If there is a lot of rain during the summer and you cannot find the best time to harvest the grapes, you need to make a homemade starter in advance that can support fermentation in the future.
2. Winemakers do not recommend cutting fruits early in the morning, while dew is still lying, and also at night, when it has already fallen, and in fog. In addition to the fact that excessive moisture adversely affects the condition of the yeast, it also spoils the taste of future wine or champagne, making them watery. When the grapes are cut at the wrong time, putrefactive processes are activated already in the warmth. If there are rotted grapes in a bunch, they can infect all their neighbors in a short period.
3. The grapes that were grown for the preparation of wine drinks are harvested by cutting bunches with scissorsor secateurs. At this stage, it is important not to damage the plaque on the fruit. To avoid this, the bunches are held by the petiole.
4. To minimize damage to the grapes after cutting the bunch, they are stacked in flat containers for safe transportation. Buckets and similar containers are not recommended.

Timing

The timing of the grape harvest depends on many nuances: grape varieties and the type of processing, climatic conditions, etc. Varieties, depending on the ripening time, are early, middle and late ripening.

The grape harvest starts with early grape varieties - “white feteasca”, the “pinot” group. They accumulate in their composition by the first half of September more than 17% of sugar. Then the grapes of medium ripening time are harvested - "Aligote", "Riesling", etc. The fruit processing season ends with the harvest of late varieties - "Cabernet Sauvignon", "Saperavi" and others.

In most cases, the grape harvest begins with white varieties, which are used to make light wine materials that are used in the creation of table and champagne wines.

Climatic conditions have a great influence on determining the timing of fruit ripening. The difference in ripening time of the same grape variety depends on the ambient temperature and humidity level.

In fact, the grape harvest is a holiday whose history goes back to ancient Rome. The celebration in honor of the future harvest was accompanied by squeezing the juice to songs and dances. In Russia, there are 3 harvest festivals -Walnut, Honey and Apple Spas.

Harvest rules

To get a quality harvest, you should know how to cut the fruit correctly:

1. The wrong time to harvest is considered too early in the morning and rainy weather.
2. Work is carried out in several stages, as the brushes mature. To obtain accurate results, a hydrometer is used, which allows you to measure the amount of sugar. This process is troublesome, but it pays off with the high quality of the harvested crop.
3. Farmers advise harvesting berries in the pre-lunch hours, when there is no dew on the brushes.
4. If there are a lot of rotten berries in bunches, the harvest time is a little faster. Rotten berries can not only affect the quality of products, but also cause all kinds of diseases of the wine drink.
5. When the harvest is completed, the grape bushes must be inspected with the rejection of rotten and still green fruits.

Hand harvest only

In order for the grapes to have integrity and attractive appearance during harvesting, special technical means are used. Clusters are cut by hand using garden pruners, scissors or a sharp knife. Hand-harvested crops are rarely damaged. This method allows you to simultaneously sort the clusters according to external characteristics. The use of technical mechanisms for harvesting grapes (see photo below) damages part of the crop.

Oxidation risk

Important already cutbunches as soon as possible to bring to the winepress, without damaging them. The protruding juice quickly oxidizes, that is, oxidizes, especially the juice of white grape varieties. To prevent this, the fruits are pollinated with sulfur, which is considered the first blow to the quality of the wine. In addition, due to mechanical damage, the released berry juice begins to ferment in warm weather, and the must, as a result of such “wild” fermentation, acquires a vinegar flavor.

Crop conservation measures

When it's rainy in the fall, some farmers use brand new machinery to make the most of the rain. So that the fruits do not swell from excessive moisture, and the valuable juice does not become watery, the earth is covered with a dense plastic wrap. Other companies are trying to reduce water content through artificial dehydration.

Third, before sending the fruits to be crushed, they are poured over with hot air, which dries the outer surface of the grapes well. An interesting fact is that the owners of the Chateau Petru company dried the berries that were wet after the rain at the expense of a helicopter that circled over the vineyards at low altitude for two hours.

Illiterate harvest

If the grapes are harvested early, then the wine will turn out with low speed and with a sharp, even unpleasant acidity, which tastes like the acidity of unripe grapes. When the fruits are harvested later than the right time, they will have increased sugar content and reducedacidity. The must from such grapes in most cases does not ferment. If, nevertheless, fermentation was started, then the result is a strong and heavy table wine.

When the wine is not fermented due to the fact that the grapes contain excess sugar after harvest, the drink is prone to various diseases. With a favorable harvest time and good fruit care, such wines can ferment next spring when the weather warms up. This significantly extends the time required for the complete preparation of the drink, increases the financial costs of caring for the grapes after harvest and increases the cost of production as a whole.

The use of technical tools greatly speeds up the harvest, but a certain percentage of the crop suffers from mechanical damage. To reduce the risk of berry rot, it is important to check and sort literally the entire crop. Varieties that ripen on the bushes longer than usual are cut last, when the sugar content in the fruit is maximum.