Harvest 2009

 Questions that are frequently asked in the tasting room:

WHEN IS HARVEST?

Harvest can begin early or late in August or September, depending on the weather. If you are planning a harvest visit, time it for mid-to-late September.  That's often the peak and there's sure to be something going on, regardless of the weather.  At Milat, we have started as early as the first week of August and as late as September 15.

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO HARVEST?

Verasion (changing of the color of the grape berry) is the signal that the vine's energy has shifted from growth into fruit ripening: the grapes are beginning to get sweet and the acid is decreasing.  It's almost time to begin "field sampling".  Mike and Bob take samples from each vineyard section to monitor the sugar, using an instrument known as a refractometer.  Repeated monitoring over days and weeks will help us know when we should begin harvesting. 

        HOW DO YOU PICK THE GRAPES?

Hand-picking is still preferred.  Although slow, and labor intensive, it minimizes damage to vines and allows far greater selectivity of individual grape bunches.  We use a contractor to provide our harvest laborers.  There are usually 10-12 pickers in a crew.  We hand-pick our grapes as early in the morning as possible, while the fruit is still cool.  Harvest work is physically demanding.  The pickers use a special knife with a curved blade and a wooden handle. Hand-picking consists of cutting the grapes from the vine and dropping them into a tub; moving the tub to the next vine and then carrying the full tub to dump into trailer-mounted bins for transport to the winery.