The Gathering

The grape harvest in Italy is mainly done by hand: it must be applied in the case of some denominations of origin, in the case of certain crus (vineyards with unique and specific characteristics, different from those present in others) or in vineyards in where noble rot is sought. In general, the manual harvest allows to obtain a qualitatively superior product to the mechanical harvest: the grapes are harvested intact (they are not crushed and the berries are not broken), the berries or bunches compromised by diseases or other are eliminated and the plant residues that can end up in the collection boxes. Furthermore, it is possible to harvest certain crus or varieties present in the same vineyard separately or, even, it is possible to carry out a gradual harvest of a single variety. In the last thirty to forty years, however, there has been an increase in the use of grape harvesting machines due to the increase in production costs and the decrease in available manpower. In general, mechanical harvesting involves obvious advantages in relation to the time taken to carry out the harvesting operations, however the qualitative characteristics of the harvested grapes are clearly inferior to those harvested with manual harvesting.