Video: Night Harvesting Russian River Valley Chardonnay Grapes
Watching a picking crew harvest grapes is an unbelievable rush. Your eyes fight to follow the hooked knives slicing away at each stem. You hear the grapes shaking on the vines as the workers tug the canes. A tractor engine hums. You hear the men shout for more collection bins. But you can’t see anything–unless you follow the lights.
This is the beauty of night harvesting.
Jordan Winery harvests Russian River Valley Chardonnay grapes in the coldest hours of the night, so the grapes arrive cold with crisp acids, ideal sugar levels and brighter fruit flavors. These videos offer a behind-the-scenes look at what a night-harvest entails–from the headlamps to the gloves and chilled breaths.
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Thank you, Ron. Sorry I haven’t been able to answer all your enology questions. The Vineyard Manager and Winemakers are very busy right now, as you know. 🙂 I will need to wait to gather information from them once things settle down. You can follow our twitter #harvest feed for regular industry updates @jordanwinery. I know that Chardonnay volume is down 25% due to removal of sunburned clusters. Sugars on Chardonnay thus far have been exactly where we want it: 23 Brix. And the fruit tastes great.
It was certainly interesting for me to read this post. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon. BTW, rather nice design you have here, but how about changing it once in a few months? I mean it 🙂
Jenny Watcerson
london incall
Living in a household of TWO menapausal women, I would love to be part of a night harvest during the coldest temp. of the night!
Lorri — I can only imagine! It was very cool and refreshing outside at 4:00 a.m. 🙂
Canopy management is beautiful. Grapes are right at chest height. Perfect bunches for harvesting. What is the harvest yield (tons per acre) grape chemistry, grape maturity, and grape taste. I hope you do not mind me asking
Thank you, Ron. Sorry I haven’t been able to answer all your enology questions. The Vineyard Manager and Winemakers are very busy right now, as you know. 🙂 I will need to wait to gather information from them once things settle down. You can follow our twitter #harvest feed for regular industry updates @jordanwinery. I know that Chardonnay volume is down 25% due to removal of sunburned clusters. Sugars on Chardonnay thus far have been exactly where we want it: 23 Brix. And the fruit tastes great.
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