Harvesting - Part 3

The grapes then go through the crushers/de-stemmer.

The crusher/de-stemmer is a stainless steel machine that has a solid outside with a drum on the inside (the drum has holes in it for the berries and juice to go through) and on the inside of the drum there is a thick bar with beater arms on. So the grapes go in on top of the crusher/de-stemmer..

And then the berries gets separated from the stems inside of the crusher/de-stemmer..

(The crusher/de-stemmer is actually on in this photo and rotating at very high speed. Don't worry about safety, the crusher/de-stemmer is a closed machine, I just peaked in from an angle :) )

The stems then go on a conveyor belt and gets taken away by the farmers to feed their cattle, and I use some of it in my composting.

The grape juice and berries then goes through a mesh-cooler and into the fermenters and drainers.

Drainers

Rotary Tanks (Fermenters)

Fermenters

Harvesting - Part 2

So after the grapes are taken to the specified crushers, it gets off loaded.

The grapes moves through the offloading bin (by means of a screw) towards the crushers where the berries gets separated from the stems. I will show that part on Monday :)

Focussing on Harvest Procedures

I promised in an earlier post that I would write a couple of entries about the processes involved in getting the grapes from the vineyards to the tanks. So I took some time yesterday to take a couple of quick snapshots. I will post these processes in parts and not all at once.

In the MCC post I showed photos of how the grapes are picked. All grapes of Darling Cellars producers are picked by hand (mostly because bushvines can't be harvested with machines). This is hard work and the sun is unforgiving. It also puts quite a strain on your back.

So the grapes are picked by hand in the vineyard, put on the grape trailer and taken to Darling Cellars.

So the first action that happens then, is that the chemical properties (sugar, acid and pH) gets tested in our laboratory. A juice sample is taken of the load and analyzed with a Mettler.





The results is given to the tractor driver and he then moves to the scale. The gross weight is taken and put into our management system on the computer. Then the driver takes his load to the specified crusher, depending on which cultivars are harvested where.


More of this at a later stage...

Old and still doing it!

I just found these photos on my computer I took last year during harvest. One of our farmers still has a John Deere A tractor - in working condition. Well, for those who do not know what this tractor looks like, or why this is special, keep reading..


The John Deere Model A tractors were build between 1934 and 1952, making it between 77 and 59 years old. A total of 300 000 were build. In 1952 they cost $2 400.

Horsepower (max)

Drawbar - 31.1
PTO/Belt - 38

Engine displacement - 321 ci (5257 cc)

Having such a marvelous and antique tractor still in working condition is truly something remarkable. It shows the character of this specific tractor, and its owner. It was a sight to see it bring a load of grapes in, and we will try to get him here again this year so he can once again be part of the harvest at Darling Cellars.

What a day

What a day! My feet are killing me! The humidity was almost unbearable and the sun was unforgiving. Well, we do farm in Africa, so I can't complain. The grapes are starting to ripen very quick now. Wednesday will mark the start of big tonnage. This week we will harvest Chardonnay, Bukettraube, Chenin blanc, Nouvelle (a crossing of Cape Riesling and Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano), was developed in South Africa by Professor CJ Orffer of Stellenbosch University.) and Pinotage.

We did quite a lot of Sauvignon blanc this morning, with some of the struggling Chenin blancs coming in this afternoon, also some Pinotage. The Sauvignon blancs looked great, good pH and acid.

Apparently tomorrow is going to be warmer, so if I dont melt, I will post some updates again this week :)

Sauvignon blanc

This guy surprised me!! He is almost as big as a squash ball!!

Bubbly start

Today we harvested Chardonnay for MCC. The grapes looked very good and had a good chemical analysis. ph 3.1, TA - 10 Balling 19. We did about 10 tonnes.

Overall I had a great day in the vineyards. Took some 20 samples. Pinotage has an average Balling of 21, Chenin blanc 18, Colombar 17, Sauvignon blanc 16. Full on harvest will probably begin middle next week.

Bins offloaded.

Bins waiting for press to empty

Inside of the press (emptying)

Pressed skins dumped

Grape juice with dry ice (helps prevent Oxidation)

Thats it. I will do a graphical harvest process some time during harvest season.

2011

A belated happy new year to all the readers of Darling Vines!

I started working on the 5th, and man was it hot! First heat wave of 2011. The vineyards look good. Small berries and tight bunches, which means intense flavour. Considering the lack of water and the poor winter we had the vineyards are surprising me. Inspected some holes on Wednesday and it is dry. Bone dry.

We are starting to harvest on Monday the 17th. Getting some of the younger Sauvignon blancs off and starting with the Rosé. Tuesday it is time for the Chardonnay for MCC. From the next week things will be going full throttle.

Here are some photos of last week. There were some really impressive clouds. I tried capturing their essence together with the vineyard. Darling is truely an amazing area. Ill try doing more updates during harvest to keep you up to date.