6.8.13 Increased Mechanisation of Sherry Harvest

This year’s Sherry harvest is expected to see another drop in grape picking by hand. The unions reckon that 20% less of the crop will be hand-picked, as the machines are cheaper – by about 50%. Long gone are the days when the Jerez harvest, along with that of the beetroot, saw hordes (20,000) of workers in the fields. The machines are taking over leaving many out of work. Not that it is great work; seven hours on end in the baking heat for 6.17 euros an hour.

Last year’s very small harvest of just over 40 million kilos employed 6,000 pickers as well as the machines. This year, a harvest of 70 million kilos is forecast, and only 5,000 pickers will be employed – along with the machines. The vineyards now only extend to 7,000 hectares, of which 60% will be machine-picked. Labour savings are not the only advantage of the machines, however; they can pick at night, and much quicker, which helps preserve quality and avoid loss of yield.

The way that the vines are planted obviously affects whether machines can be used. Some 5,000 of the 7,000 hectares of vineyard are planted on espaliers (trained on wires), meaning machines can operate there, and it is likely that machines will pick more next year. A mechanised harvest takes far less time, but this is not the case in the many small vineyards which will be hand-picked by the grower’s family.

14.7.13 Latest on the 2013 Harvest

First estimates from growers and the Consejo on the 2013 Sherry harvest are for an increase of 12 million kilos or 25% over last year to about 75 million kilos.  As always these predictions come with a caution, however. July and August are the decisive months in the campaign, and it all depends what happens from now on.

After plenty of rainfall in the spring which has boosted the water table, the weather has been very hot recently with a Levante (hot dry east wind) which may reduce yields slightly. A particularly dry summer, like last year, is not predicted, and a sign of this is that wasp nests in the vineyards are orientated east, exposed to the Levante from which wasps normally protect themselves.

According to Francisco Guerrero, president of the independent growers, it has rained when needed and the canes for next year are good, and furthermore there are no signs so far of any disease. The worst enemies of the vine at this time of year are the Levante which reduces yields, and rain which can bring mildew or oidium because of the humidity. For the time being, however, everything looks good, but the harvest will probably be a bit later than last year’s very early one, perhaps at the start of September.

With an estimated crop of 75 million kilos, there would be enough wine to replace stocks in the bodegas, especially as sales are still falling. A drop last year of 1.92% led to sales of 41.6 million litres. The sales drop over the last five years averages around 18% meaning about 10 million litres fewer than sales in 2008.

The Consejo’s department of vineyards is supervising the state of the vineyards, paying special attention to vineyards which have been uprooted and will not be in production this year, and those which have been replanted. Growers should have informed the Consejo about this by the end of June, but not everybody has. The area of vines in production this year is very similar to that of last year, just under 6,500 hectares. The Consejo has been meeting managers of the over thirty vineyard press houses to keep them up to speed with developments, and in particular a new computer application which allows them to control the entry of grapes to the production bodegas.