Bring on the night… and the Primitivo!

Normally I wouldn’t be too happy about the alarm going off at 4am… but not today. It was Primitivo time and the picking crew arrived at 5am. Fortunately, Heather and I were able to catch an earlier standby flight home yesterday which allowed a few hours of daylight to wash out macro bins, position them in the field, and get ready for the first red wine grape harvest of the 2025.

Here comes the Primitivo!

It was dark when we started and headlamps were standard issue. The picking crew was fast and efficient and I didn’t want to get in the way. They had their system.

Instead I hovered over the bins worrying about whether it was going to rain or not. I distracted myself from the worry by picking out any MOG (Material Other than Grapes). The crew was picking clean but even the best crew needs some help with a sort. Mostly, the MOG consists of leaves or dried tendrils that get interwoven with a grape cluster. There’s the occasional “pincher bug” from time to time but everything get’s removed except grape clusters.

Grapes going into the bin. This year I used the tractor to take the bins down to the trailer… seemed a little safer and more efficient versus pulling the trailer down hill with 3,000lbs of grapes on it. I just get real nervous with any sort of side slope on the tractor but even more so when pulling all that precious cargo. If you have had our Primitivo, you know what a tragedy it would be to lose the grapes to an accident.

As the pick neared completion the sun was greeting us, however, a low cloud cover provided cooler temperatures for the pick which was a blessing. Cool grapes make happy wine. You don’t want to bring those grapes in hot.

Yours truly safely down the hill and getting ready to load the bin onto the trailer. At this point it is 7am and Heather snapped this photo as she was headed off to work. She was bummed that she couldn’t participate.

Unlike the white wine grapes that went immediately to press, the red varietals take a different path. The grapes will be de-stemmed and then go through fermentation. The whole time they will be in contact with the skins, seeds, and remaining stems. The time with skin contact will impart different flavors as well as give the wine a dark ruby color.

Jesus strapping down the bins in preparation to transport to the processing facility. These four bins came in at about 1.5 tons.

Grapes going up the elevator into the de-stemmer. The green chute on the right of the de-stemmer guides all of the stems. The fruit drops below into the 4’ tall macro bin where it will be inoculated with yeast and fermentation will begin.