Harvesting machines, costing more than 140,000 euros a piece, seem to be mulitplying in the French vineyards these days and are more technologically advanced than ever. Apart from the Champagne, Beaujolais and noble rot sweet wine areas, where the use of these machines is forbidden for technical reasons, producers in all the other French areas of production can choose between machine or manual harvesting : a large majority have opted for this flexible, efficient, time and labour saving device.
These mechanical harvesters, which first appeared in the vineyards thirty years ago, are gaining ground against the staunch defenders of manual harvesting, even in the most celebrated vineyards, such as Château Rauzan-Gassies, in the Margaux appellation.
"I would never go back to harvesting by hand," explains Jean-Michel Quié, owner of the illustrious Rauzan-Gassies, classified in 1855. "It's so much easier to organise the harvest with these machines....The 1984 havest was a wet one and it was impossible to manage with 300 harvesters, ...so in 1985, after much thought, I took the plunge and bought a machine." And he has never looked back since. The family, who also owns Château Croizet-Bages, classified growth in Pauillac and Château Bel-Orme Tronquoy de Lalande in Haut Médoc now possesses five mechanical harvesters for a total of 90 hectares of red grapes.
"These machines harvest one hectare of vines in half a day (density of 10,000 vine plants per hectare). This means we economise an extraordinary amount of time. We can harvest at optimum maturity and even mobilise several machines at the same time if one particular plot needs urgent action. Furthermore, we only employ our own staff, who are highly trained." explains Anne-Françoise Quié, twin sister of Jean-Michel, who works in partnership with her brother on the family estates.
At Rauzan-Gassies the harvester is now moving at a speed of 2 km/hour through one of the last plots to be picked. On the ground, a technician advises the driver on speed and shaking intensity. The machine hurdles the row of vines and its shakers detatch the bunches from their stems. The bunches are then carried via a conveyor belt into tubs on top of the machine which empty them into waiting trailors. They are then driven to the selecting tables.
With careful "triage", or selection of the best berries (and to eliminate rotten grapes, leaves or insects) on a selecting table at the entrance to the vat room, the quality of the mechanical harvest is comparable to that picked by hand. Indeed, in a blind tasting it is practically impossible to tell the difference...
Châteaux are also finding it more difficult to recrute trained harvesters, as the work is physically taxing and the conditions not always comfortable.
"Many of our colleagues come to watch our machines harvesting and they admit that they would like to use machines but don't dare..", Jean-Michel Quié smiles.
The world is changing and along with it certain images.
César Compadre
doc@sudouest.com
S.O. 21/10/08
Translated by Maxine Colas.