NIGHTTIME GRAPE HARVESTING

By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
10/26/2011

Workers harvest ripe cabernet sauvignon grapes at the Shafer Vineyards “Borderline” site in Napa Valley, Calif., before sunrise to help keep the sugar levels stable and avoid “surprises” during the fermentation process. The scene at this vineyard is part of a worldwide practice that’s increasingly the way all wine grapes are harvested — in the dead of night.
Pickers can work longer hours in the lower temperatures at night — and also avoid the wasps, bees and rattlesnakes that come out during the day.
Harvesting grapes at night is common worldwide, says Gregory Jones, a viticulture expert at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. “I have seen night harvests in South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Europe you name it,” he says.
When the grapes are picked cool, the vineyards can save energy because they don’t have to chill them before they’re crushed.
California produces 61% of U.S.-made wines, according to the Wine Institute, and about two-thirds of those are from grapes harvested at night, says Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers, a California wine-grape marketing cooperative.
At 4 a.m., Shafer Vineyards is alive with light and motion. The sun won’t be up for more than three hours but lines of pickers are moving methodically down vines full of ripe cabernet sauvignon grapes. They’re lit by huge bright lights mounted on trucks trundling alongside.
Workers harvest ripe cabernet sauvignon grapes at the Shafer Vineyards “Borderline” site.
Today, most vineyards use diesel-powered light towers on trailers to help the pickers. Still, there are some vineyards where they “don’t even use lights, they just have head lamps on the guys’ heads.”

Source:
http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Nighttime+grape+harvesting/G2918?csp=ftsmpg