Many of the Sherry vineyards are being harvested at night.
This is not a new phenomenon, but is comparatively new for Jerez. It means the
grapes arrive at the lagares (press houses) in a cooler state and are therefore
less prone to oxidation, and fermentations are easier to control. The grapes
also arrive more quickly, and are more uniformly ripe.
The harvest has seen a technological transformation in
recent years, and the familiar sight of innumerable teams of pickers has been
drastically reduced. Hand picking grapes by day is extremely hard work anyway,
as temperatures can be suffocating – well into the 40’s. Even the machines prefer
working at night, as their engines and other mechanisms run cooler, and there
are fewer breakdowns.
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| (Imagen Diario Jerez) |
More than half the crop will be harvested mechanically. Many
fewer people are even looking for work at harvest time now, though there are
jobs for people to repair and service the machines, and to fix any damage they
cause – which is not much, as the machines have been improving, and are quite
sensitive to the vines. Naturally, some older vineyards which were not planted
with machines in mind will need to be done by hand.
This year’s harvest should be over towards the end of next
week – just in time for the harvest festival, and this year’s Fiesta de la
Buleria, which begins at the bullring on the 7th of September.
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