A Beginner's Guide to Harvesting Grapes
What’s the first thing you picture when you think of harvesting grapes?
A leisurely, romanticized day in the vineyard, connecting with nature?
OR
A day of back-breaking labour, exposed to the elements?
As I learned on my first-ever day of harvesting grapes here in the Ottawa Valley, the answer can be one or the other — or lie somewhere in the middle. It all depends on the weather.
As luck would have it, we had a beautiful day for picking chardonnay grapes at KIN Vineyards.
The day started at 8:30 — thankfully not too early for this not-so-early bird — with quintessential Canadian breakfast nibblies: Tim Hortons coffee and donuts.
KIN’s winemaker Brian Hamilton gave the approximately 40 volunteers who showed up to help a quick debrief of what to pick, what to cull, and what to leave on the vines.
We all grabbed our pruning shears and collecting bins and set to work. Everyone started at the end of a row, with one person on each side of the vine, until we met in the middle. I had brought a small stool to sit on, which put me at the perfect level to pick the ripe chardonnay grapes that were growing about 20 inches off the ground.
Brian told us that once we got the hang of it, we should be able to fill a bin in 25 minutes. When he came around telling us our first bin should be full, I looked down at mine to discover with dismay that it was barely a third full. Time to pick up the pace!
The morning had started off a bit chilly, but as the day progressed, we all started shedding our layers, and by 10 a.m. it was t-shirt weather. Gorgeous and sunny, verging on hot by the time the sun started beating down on us from above the vines. Still, not bad for the last day of September! That said, if it had been cold and/or raining, it would have made for a very different grape picking experience!
This year’s long, hot summer was perfect for the vines, and KIN’s yields were way higher than they’ve ever been. So high, in fact, that we didn’t even make it to the middle of our rows before we collectively ran out of bins. So we had to call it a day! By the end of the three hours I had only managed to fill four bins, but I felt like I was definitely getting the hang of it all: removing leaves to expose the grape bunches, cutting the bunch off the vine, culling the rotten grapes by scraping them off with the shears, then placing the healthy bunch in the bin. Then moving a few feet over and starting again. The whole process definitely took longer than I had originally imagined or anticipated, but it felt good to get my hands dirty and be part of the action, contributing to the KIN community and, of course, the wine! And my back didn’t even hurt!
Afterwards, we were rewarded with pinsa (a Roman-style pizza with crust made from sourdough, rice, soy and wheat flour) from Joe’s Italian Kitchen, and a glass (or two) of KIN Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. I also treated myself to a bottle of KIN Gamay to bring home. Ultimately, I’m looking forward to tasting the fruits of my labour when the 2023 KIN Chardonnay is bottled in a couple of years and ready to drink!
Here’s a recap of what I learned as a newbie grape picker:
Dress for the weather: bring rain boots in case the ground is wet, and dress in layers that can be removed or added according to the temperature. Bring rain gear in case Mother Nature has some waterworks planned.
Don’t forget a hat and sunscreen! Once the sun is above the vines, there’s not much to protect you from surprisingly high UV, even that late in the year.
Bring bug spray.
Bring something to sit on, like a small stool or a milk crate, so that you don’t have to hunch over or crouch for hours at a time and kill your back.
I’m looking forward to doing it again next year! Who’s in?
Hope everyone had a great (Canadian) Thanksgiving long weekend!
looks like you enjoyed grape harvesting