First and foremost an exceptional grape must be grown in order to produce a great tasting wine. Unlike eating grapes (raisin de table) wine grapes have a waxy skin for better protection and, because of this, tends to be a more blue color for red wine but remains green for white wine.
Once hand picked, farmers have begun to use specialized machinery to harvest the grapes. This allows for maximized productivity as it eliminates the need to hire numerous workers and speeds up the collection process indefinitely. The machines are designed with two arms that run alongside of the vines shaking it from side to side, loosening the grapes from the stems.
Hand picking the grapes is time consuming but there is less waste being collected like leaves, vines and stems. Although, the specialized machines have done a fairly good job as you can see from only the stems remaining.
The grapes gathered are dumped into an additional tractor with a special container.
The tractor hauls the precious cargo from the fields to the barn where the next step of the wine making process commences.
The container has a device attached to the back of it with a pipe coming from the bottom straight up.
Here is a closer look at what is collected by the automatic equipment in the fields.
A tube is connected to the pipe on the container to transfer the goods to be sorted between juice, pulp and waste.
You may be familiar with some Australian wine brands such as Lucky Lizard, Lizard of Oz, Leaping Lizard or Thirsty Lizard, all retaining their name from what may be obvious. Tiny creatures use the vineyards as their playground and during harvest often get swept up and become part of the wine. This little one was luckily pulled from the container before being crushed. Not all critters are spared though. Ladybugs, flies, caterpillars and the likes are all left to be digested. Think about that the next time you are enjoying a glass!
While being sucked through the tube the mixture is mashed into a pulp making the process of separation easier. Everything is spat into an additional machine where two steps occur.
The first is a conveyer belt that moves the skin, stems, leaves and other waste away.
This waste is spat into another machine that consolidates everything into a thick, dense log that looks similar to poop! This material makes use as good fertilizer or compost.
Part two of the separation is where the juice of the grapes is filtered through the bottom of the container and collects in yet another tub. This juice is delicious, pure and exceptionally nice to drink. Caution and moderation need to be exercised here as too much will cause frequent trips to the bathroom!
The frothy liquid is drained further as it makes its way to the fermentation sector of the process.
The juice travels through another corrugated tube into the barn where it is filtered again into storage vats.
These large vats can hold a remarkable amount of juice. This old vat is special because it came from the farmhouse where I am staying.
The vats have nozzles and catch buckets to test the juice as it sits.
The juice is then moved into barrels where it can be shipped away to be bottled and eventually drank.
This vondonge was all made part by the landowners; family and helpers who have maintained the land and have taken special care to ensure everything runs smoothly.
