The Most Exciting Weeks of the Year: Harvest Time

While we enjoy the late summer sun on the terrace, tractor engines are running at full throttle in Europe's wine regions. August, September, and October are the months of truth for every winemaker. Harvest season, known as la vendange in France and la vendimia in Spain, has arrived.

It is a period of hard work, adrenaline, and sleepless nights. Because the difference between a 'good' wine and a 'top' wine often depends on decisions made within a few hours.

What exactly happens in these hectic weeks among the grapevines? A behind-the-scenes look at the birth of the new vintage.

1. Finding the perfect moment

The most important moment in the entire cycle is the question: when do we pick?

This is a complicated balancing act. The longer the grape hangs on the vine and catches sunlight, the higher its sugar content (and sugar becomes alcohol during fermentation). At the same time, the acids in the grape decrease. Acids are essential: they provide freshness, structure, and aging potential.

• Pick too early? You get a lean, acidic wine with green, harsh tannins.

• Pick too late? You get a heavy, 'jammy' alcohol bomb that has lost all its freshness.

During this period, winemakers walk through their vineyards daily. They measure sugars in the lab, but more importantly: they chew on the grapes, skins, and seeds. Only when the seeds are no longer bitter and green, but brown and nutty (the so-called phenolic ripeness), does the winemaker give the go-ahead.

2. Why do they sometimes pick at 3 am?

Anyone driving through the south of France or Spain around this time sometimes sees brightly lit machines moving through the vineyards in the middle of the night. This is not overtime, but a deliberate strategy.

In warm regions, temperatures can easily rise above 30°C during the day. If you pick grapes in that heat, two things happen that you absolutely don't want:

1. The grapes immediately start to bruise and 'stew' in the picking basket due to the heat, leading to spontaneous (and uncontrolled) fermentation.

2. The precious, fresh aromas are lost.

By picking at night or at the very first light of dawn, the grapes enter the cellar as cold as possible. This preserves maximum freshness and saves the winemaker an enormous amount of energy on artificial cooling.

3. Manual or mechanical?

There is often a romantic image that all top wine is picked by hand by smiling people with wicker baskets. The reality is more nuanced:

• By hand: Indispensable on steep slopes (think of the Moselle or the Rhône), for very delicate grape varieties, or when the winemaker wants to make a strict initial selection in the field (only the most beautiful bunches are taken).

• Mechanically: Modern harvesting machines are now so advanced that they can work very quickly and very gently. Especially for night harvesting in flatter areas, this is often the way to bring in the grapes at their absolute peak. It also saves an enormous amount of work, of course. Did you know, for example, that every year in the Champagne region, 100,000 extra workers are present to pick grapes?

4. Today's weather = next year's taste

Every glass of wine you drink is a kind of liquid summary of the weather in that particular year.

Has it been a very dry, hot summer? Then the grapes are smaller, with thicker skins, which results in a concentrated, powerful taste. Was there a heavy downpour just before the harvest? Then the grapes soak up water, which can dilute the juice.

That is precisely why we wine lovers are so fond of different vintages. No two years are the same! Of course, we prefer many good years among them. That's why it also helps if we all continue to take care of our planet a bit.

A toast to the new vintage

While winemakers are currently toiling to secure the 2026 harvest, we can already dream about how wonderful that new year will taste in our glass in a while. We can, of course, already say that 2026 will be a story of extremes, given all the heatwaves and wildfires.

In the meantime, do you want to taste what a top year does to a specific region? Discover our favorite vintages in the webshop!

Just a few of my personal favorites from recent years:

1. 2020 & 2021 Brunello
   Not the years for enormous longevity, you'd better choose 2019 for that, but it's incredible how many immensely good, intense, full of leather and tobacco Brunellos have been made. 2021 did need some luck, the weather was already getting warmer and not every producer got away with it perfectly.
   
   
2. 2019, '20 and '21 Barolo
   I'm staying in Italy for a bit longer, because these were top years in Piedmont too. 2019 is brilliant for longevity, and many '20 and '21 might be drinkable sooner but offer incredibly good juice, lots of fruit, rounder profiles. I personally stocked up quite a bit on '19 and '21. So I'd do the same if I were you ;), you should check them out here.
   
   
3. 2022 Bordeaux
   For me, this is a story of a broken relationship. I grew up with Bordeaux but lost interest over the years. It all became too weak, too expensive, too little nose. 2022, however, did offer some fairly good wines, especially the Left Bank.
   
   
4. 2018 and 2019 Napa Valley
   2018 Napa Valley is the best year I experienced there, full, lots of fruit, intense, creamy. Brilliant! And '19 followed almost the exact same path, though perhaps it seemed just a touch fresher.
   You can find a few more here with us.