Harvesting grapes: winery tasks

In Spain, one of the most characteristic tasks during the beginning of autumn is the grape harvest. It is true that these tasks have evolved a lot in recent years, about 20 years ago this was a completely manual and very social work, now the grape harvest is done almost completely mechanized. We have already talked about harvesting in some articles in past post from previous years, so this time we have gone to the winery to wait for the grape.

We have visited the winery called the "Cooperativa del Campo Nuestra Señora de la Asunción", which is located in our village (La Alberca de Záncara - Cuenca). It is a small winery that today it is true that does not have much more activity because nowadays, it is not an area of many vineyards (purple garlic is the engine of the economy), but it receives a few million kilograms of grapes during the harvest season. The winery is rented to the "Bodegas Gallego & Laporte" company, which is responsible for marketing the wines made there. By the way, as you can see in the photos, a part of the winery is quite old and beautiful. It is very well preserved, so we recommend that you visit it.

As you can see in our video, we witnessed the reception of a truck of Syrah grapes variety. In the video we explain the process of grape reception that is completely mechanized, highlighting all the tasks performed there from the moment the truck enters through the doors of the winery until it leaves the winery premises

1. The truck is weighed to know the amount of grapes that will be delivered to the warehouse. At the same time, several samples of the grape are taken to find out the degree of sugar in the grape (Baume degrees). The farmer will charge the grape according to the kilograms and the Baume degree.
2. Once weighed and with the samples of grade collected, the truck unloads in the well. These wells are made of stainless steel and have screw conveyors that will take the grapes to the next step.
3. The grapes pass through a destemming machine that separates the grains from the stalk. The stalk is discarded and the grains pass to the following machine where they are pressed.
4. The grapes are pressed to obtain the must (grape juice). The must, together with the pulp of the grains are transferred to stainless steel tanks where they will stay for several days.
5. The must and pulp in the stainless steel tanks are in constant recirculation so that a perfect mixture is made between the must and pulp. In this way, the must takes on colour as it is a black grape.
6. When the density of the must and pulp is adequate, the must goes to some tanks where it will be fermenting during the days that the oenologist considers appropriate and the pulp goes to the pressing machines.
7. The pulp is pressed to obtain the remaining must, which is sent to the tanks for fermentation.
8. The waste from the press, called grape pomace, is taken out of the cellar for later use in the generation of vinegars, for example.

The must that is fermenting in the tanks, once the fermentation process is finished, the tasks of decanting (transferring the wine from one tank to another) and filtering will begin... this will give a quality La Mancha wine... but these tasks will be another topic that we will deal with in the future.

Versión en español.