From the sounds of it not many of us on the Coeur de Terre team got much sleep last night. I was pretty wide awake at 4:00 a.m.. Lisa Neal, the co-owner of Coeur de Terre said that she didn't sleep at all. I was just so excited to see harvest happen first hand. I'm now home early, well earlier that I thought I might. I was in the vineyard at 7:30 AM, and got home around 10:30 PM. That's a very long day of physical labor. But what I did was nothing compared to the hard work of the people actually harvesting of the grapes. I went down to get a few photos, and I just couldn't believe how fast they were picking. 
There are sixteen pickers and they each have two five gallon plastic buckets. They throw one of them up the row a ways, and then start picking with the second. The bucket is held under the clusters of grapes which are cut to fall into it. I've talked to a number of people who have done this work and they all say about the same thing. The first time the tried it they about cut their fingers off. While the speed of harvest is impressive, the next step is unbelievable. When the two buckets are full they grab them and run up the hill. That's right, they run. When they get to the end of the row, the buckets are emptied into one of the bins, and the crew chief checks them off on their picking card. Ryan and I decide to head up to the wine cellar at about the same time, so we walk up Sara Jane's Block together. I am winded by the time we're half way up the hill, and I'm not carrying anything. I don't know how those folks do it.
The permanent crew at the vineyard don't do the picking. A special crew is contracted to do that. The pickers are paid by the bucket, and the contractor is paid by the ton of fruit picked. The guys who are full time are doing logistics. Martin is on a tractor ferrying bins up and down the vineyard. Roberto is operating the forklift full time. The rest of us are on sorting detail. The bins arrive at the upper level of the winery. They are taken under an awning where a special attachment on a fork lift twists them in the air to dump them onto the sorting table. The table doesn't have a conveyor belt (for which I am very glad). Instead it vibrates which gently sends the fruit down the table to be sorted. We are looking for leaves, under ripe fruit, or fruit that just doesn't look good. Anything that's rejected is tossed into the center of the table where it
The permanent crew at the vineyard don't do the picking. A special crew is contracted to do that. The pickers are paid by the bucket, and the contractor is paid by the ton of fruit picked. The guys who are full time are doing logistics. Martin is on a tractor ferrying bins up and down the vineyard. Roberto is operating the forklift full time. The rest of us are on sorting detail. The bins arrive at the upper level of the winery. They are taken under an awning where a special attachment on a fork lift twists them in the air to dump them onto the sorting table. The table doesn't have a conveyor belt (for which I am very glad). Instead it vibrates which gently sends the fruit down the table to be sorted. We are looking for leaves, under ripe fruit, or fruit that just doesn't look good. Anything that's rejected is tossed into the center of the table where it ends up in buckets that eventually have to be emptied.
We started up the sorting table once a few of the bins have arrived. It's about 8:30 or so when we begin, and we won't stop (except to eat until 9 at night.) I end up with a pretty simple job, but my back is already starting to tighten up on me. When the bins are picked up by the forklift they have to be secured in place. There is a big, heavy metal bar that is inserted into a track over the top of the bin. Then it has to be strapped in place. It gets difficult about the 300th time you do it because you're lifting something leaning over the side of the bin.
Once the bin is emptied, it has to be hosed out, and the the next one is put in place. A variety of people swing through and help out during the day. Lisa Neal and Ryan are working with Mauricio and Lisa's friend, Trisha, in the photo to the right. When I wasn't helping to strap in the bins, it was my job to get under the table and grab the buckets and empty them. I was also in charge of keeping the driveway free of grapes. In between I would step up to the table and help sort. Part of the reason for all of that cleaning is to keep the fruit flies at bay. Fortunately (well at least in this regard) this harvest is so late the most of the fruit flies have been killed by cooler weather. At noon I was thinking how great it was that we escaped the forecasted rain. After lunch the skies open up. Now I have another job. I have to make sure the the bins are always covered in plastic. Scott doesn't want to have water getting in and diluting the wine he is making. OK, I'm beat. Off to bed. It was a very long and a very satisfying day. I'll write more tomorrow.