Grape harvest processing equipment
Once the grapes have been harvested, they are taken to the reception line to be cleaned and sorted, separating the noble products from the waste.
Stemming removes the stalks from the berries, and various sorting systems (in the vineyard, on the harvesting machine or in the winery) eliminate plant debris and foreign bodies.
In the winery, additional sorting is carried out before vatting, using a variety of equipment such as destemmers, sorting tables and optical sorters, adapted to the needs of the winemaker and the quality of the harvest.
Stemming removes the stalks from the berries, and various sorting systems (in the vineyard, on the harvesting machine or in the winery) eliminate plant debris and foreign bodies.
In the winery, additional sorting is carried out before vatting, using a variety of equipment such as destemmers, sorting tables and optical sorters, adapted to the needs of the winemaker and the quality of the harvest.
Harvest processing equipment
Once the grapes have been harvested, either manually or mechanically, they are taken to the receiving line. The aim now is to clean and sort the harvest before the vinification process begins.Sorting the harvest involves separating the noble products from the waste. This waste can be green grapes, grapes that are not in a good state of health, plant debris (leaves and leaf debris, stalks and stalk fragments, petioles, etc.), foreign bodies (trellising elements, shoots, vines, metal objects, small animals, etc.).
Destemming is the mechanical operation that consists of detaching and separating the stalks from the berries. Destemmers were originally designed to remove the stalks from manually harvested grapes. With the development of the harvesting machine, they also became sorters capable of removing leaves, petioles and other undesirable foreign bodies from the harvest.
The grape harvest reception and sorting chain is therefore made up of an array of winemaking equipment enabling the grapes to be sorted, de-stemmed and moved.
The different harvest sorting systems
There are different harvest sorting systems : in the vineyard, on the grape harvesting machine or in the winery.In-vine sorting tables are installed at the edge of the vineyard, either mounted on a trailer or attached to the trailer. They lie between sorting on the vine and transport by skip. This type of organisation is particularly suited to manual harvesting. Some manufacturers even offer folding kits that can be adapted to harvesting skips.
All harvesting machine manufacturers now install sorting equipment as an option, to remove as much plant debris and leaves as possible from the harvested grapes. These systems can be of the centrifugal suction type to eliminate leaves and other light debris. Recent years have seen the development of truly integrated destemming systems, such as theon-board destemmer or the rotary destemmer similar to the cellar destemmer. These de-stemming systems at harvest time allow the harvest to be transported without the plant matter normally collected by the machine.
In the cellar, only additional sorting (manual or automatic) is then necessary before vatting.
Optimising grape sorting in the winery: a few rules to follow
A few essential rules for handling the harvest:- Sort the harvest as soon as possible after harvesting, as soon as it arrives in the winery.
- Avoid rough handling that could crush the harvest.
- Drain the harvestas much as possible to facilitate sorting and avoid oxidation of the juice.
- Feed each piece of equipment in the reception chain regularly and slowly.
The choice of equipment used in the sorting chain in the winery depends on how the grapes are harvested, the condition of the harvested grapes and the quality of the harvest the winemaker wants to achieve.
The equipment concerned is :
- destemmers
- linear manual sorting tables
- vibrating draining tables
- manual and automatic vibrating sorting tables
- gins
- mechanical sorters
- optical sorters
- and other specific equipment
- How the harvest is transported.
- The existing reception line (conquet, destemmer, etc.), its organisation and layout.
- The space available: need for a lift, gravity installation, etc.
- Coordination of the working speeds of the different elements.
- Oenological imperatives: number of intermediaries with mechanical actions on the harvest, desired sorting quality.