Harvester again

After another morning of pulling off nets, the harvester came again, this time to pick Chardonnay. And I got some photos! It's quite a monster, and though even more impressive and War-of-the-Worlds-y at night, with it's lightts blazing, it's pretty impressive even during the day. I rode atop the thing for a while, and the view was great. Notice the color-banding effect in the vineyard? The white grape vines---Sauvingon Blanc in the distance and Chardonnay in the foreground---have leaves that go from green to yellow, while the Pinot Noir leaves turn orange and red. The photo doesn't quite do it justice.



The harvester straddles the vines, shakes them vigorously, and catches the grapes on conveyor belts, which dump them into the big side bins. The bins are tipped by hydraulics. We emptied grapes directly from the harvester into the press until that was full, and put the rest in bins in the chiller.

The harvester, apparently is really two parts. A tractor---that includes the chassis, engine, and driver's cab---and a "harvester head". The latter, of course, has all the bits that do the harvesting, but can be removed from the tractor and replaced by other apparatus---a sprayer for example. Much like an ordinary tractor might be fitted with a plough (or a net-puller).



There is still some Chardonnay at the far end of the vineyard, though the grapes are not as good, and are beginning to turn to raisins with the help of botrytis. What will happen to these has not yet been decided. If harvested at all, it will probably be by hand. They could even be left a bit longer, and made into a late-harvest sweet wine. But they will probably not make it into the regular Chardonnay.