As predicted, yesterday was a hot one. It was rather chilly all morning, then the afternoon warmed up. A lot. Ken said he had trouble sleeping last night because of the temperature. I, for a change, was mostly okay. The harvester is back and yesterday the guys took a couple of truck loads of sauvignon (I assume) off to the winery. This morning, just before 07h30, the harvester showed up again and is working, in the dark, just outside our garden gate. The grapes planted there are red ones. It's predicted to be hot again today, so I'm guessing they're picking grapes while it's relatively cool out there.
I read an article from the LA Times yesterday (it was dated 2017) that said that half of all the wine grapes in California are harvested by machine. But in Napa, it's less than ten percent. I suppose Napa has an image to perpetuate, but economics will win out eventually. The article mentioned that cheap manual labor is becoming less available (due to more vigorous immigration laws and more border security) and that the economics of grape picking is making machine harvesting more financially attractive. Indeed.
I can’t figure out what’s the LAT date; is it July 2020?
ReplyDeleteIf wine made with hand picked grapes is of better quality and can be sold at a higher price, doesn’t that offsets the use of human labor?
And to think all those border-crossing manual laborers were taking “our” jobs. Doesn’t anyone want the jobs back?
ReplyDeleteYou must have taken this photo from your deck. A nice view of fall happenings in your neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteNot many people can say the grape truck passes by their kitchen window!
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
I just had to research percentages of machine-harvesting! University of California - Davis reported in 2021 90% machine harvested grapes and 50% savings of labor in the US. The first reported machine-harvesting was in the Pacific NW - Yakima, WA in 1968. Your up-to-date reporting on the local harvest is appreciated, Walt! Were you having a cup of coffee when the driver went by?
ReplyDeletechm, it was two thousand seventeen. I don't know which month.
ReplyDeletemitch, we want to have our wine and drink it, too.
evelyn, it could have been from the deck, but this one is from the kitchen window.
bettyann, we can see them out the bathroom window, too! ;)
mary, interesting!