Harvest 2021 - The big picks

Camaraderie in the vineyard and the industrious sound of night picks

The main event has never been the manifestation; the main event has always been the way you feel moment by moment, because that's what life is. ~ Esther Hicks

And now for the main event…

Finally, the big one-ton picks. I had four this harvest season, one I already wrote about back on September 1st, and three that occurred within an intense five-day period. There was Cabernet Sauvignon from Sam’s Vineyard in Sonoma on September 22nd, Syrah from Avram’s Vineyard in Agua Caliente on September 25th, and Malbec from Valley Oak Vineyard up on Bennett Valley Road on September 26th.

The average person can pick a ton of grapes in about a day, if they can last that long. A highly skilled vineyard worker can do it in about five hours, and they go for two tons a day. But if you’re planning on making the best wine you need to get the grapes off the vine and to the crushing facility as quickly as possible. Two or three hours is ideal. Otherwise they start to ferment in the bins and that’s an invitation for oxidation and microbial spoilage to occur.

When you buy grapes from a commercial vineyard the price usually includes picking, and often even delivery. But the small, private vineyards that I favor don’t have picking crews. So what’s a poor first-time commercial winemaker supposed to do? Rely on the time-honored tradition of soliciting free labor from family and friends, of course! It’s not exactly free, as most of those kind souls you cajoled into picking expect the other time-honored tradition of a harvest meal of some sort, and a bottle or two of wine from the grapes they picked in return for their labor. But that’s a tiny price to pay when ten or more industrious, fun-loving people, regardless of age or skill, turn a one-ton pick into a humorous two-hour romp in the vineyard.

The amazing Sam’s Vineyard picking crew celebrating their two full half-ton macro bins ready to take to the crush facility in record time.

The equally amazing Avram’s Vineyard picking crew working in concert to bring in a ton of Syrah while the grapes are still cool in the early morning hours.

Vineyard manager Andrew Rogers and his incredible nighttime picking crew making short shrift of a ton of Malbec in the Valley Oak Vineyard.

And that’s exactly what happened. I sent out a bunch of emails and even posted a newsletter invite and, happily, an assemblage of hearty souls responded—age 29 to 85! For that Wednesday’s pick at Sam’s Vineyard there was Bobbie, Lynn, Dave, Dick, Tom, Peter, Gayle, Federico, my friend Bruce visiting from Colorado, Deb and me. We laid out a breakfast spread of insane pastries from Baker & Cook, a fantastic coffee cake from Bobbie, an urn of Starbucks coffee, and even a chocolate birthday cake for Sam the vineyard owner, who turned 75 that day.

For the following Saturday pick at Avram’s Vineyard there were four repeats—Tom, Peter, Deb and me, and a bunch of new recruits—David, Kitty, Rob, Kelly, Naomi, Jerry, Bob, my son Penn and his girlfriend Lia, and Blue the grape-eating Llewellin setter. It was quite a crowd!

Both picks went off without a single hitch and were really quite fun. The only issue we encountered was a shortage of fruit. The drought had caused vineyard yields to be down by an average of 30% throughout Sonoma county this year, and the vineyards we were picking were no exception. We were short 368 pounds from Sam’s Vineyard and 106 pounds from Avram’s Vineyard. We were able to make up the difference from other sources, but these were notably smaller yields from vineyards that historically produced multiple tons.

Our final big pick, just a day after the Syrah, was a ton of Malbec from Valley Oak Vineyard high up on Bennett Valley Road. It’s managed by a great young vineyard manager named Andrew Rogers, who went out of his way to help me secure the grapes I was looking for and then get them picked and delivered to my crush facility on time. This was good because I think I had pretty much exhausted my roster of free help. Andrew enlisted his nighttime picking crew and they had my ton in the bins well before the time most folks go to bed. They were incredible to watch as they literally vacuumed up the vineyard so fast it was hard to believe they could sustain the pace—but they did. 

Picking at night is an activity of spatial distortion. You have only the light from your headlamp to go by and you’re repeatedly, and unabashedly, thrusting your hands into vines frequented by spiders, roosting birds, and any number of nocturnal animals, while blindly slicing off grape clusters with a razor-sharp harvest knife. You really can’t see where you’re going because one minute you’re stumbling down a pitch-black row and the next you’re blinded by the tower lights on the picking tractor. Injuries are not uncommon.

But what impacted me the most while spending time with Andrew’s crew as they picked my Malbec was the singularity of sound. Once the pickers had settled into a rhythm and the rapid-fire Spanish of greetings and preparation had surrendered to the need to breathe regularly, the relative quietness of night descended on the scene. Even the diesel noise from the picking tractor was reduced to an idle as the driver figured out how best to distance himself from the pickers. Then, the only real sound was that of industry—the static-like rustling of leaves crunching and the pop of clusters being yanked or cut clear and dropped into bins. This was a far cry from the near-constant chatter and convivial mood of our earlier group picks.

But wait! Instead of me trying to describe these different picks and the people involved, let me show you. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth, what… blessed relief from my verbosity?! Please enjoy the video below.