Page 45 - Grapevine May-June 2020

Around The Vineyard

that they work very similar to higher-end destem- to provide all options and realistic details on what
mers with options like you would find on the IMMA each machine is capable of and the long term cost
destemmer. They cannot produce as much whole for each. In many cases, our clients lease the prod-
berry but are still excellent, well-received destem- ucts.”
ming units.”

Horn added that the hoppers his company sells
are produced in multiple configurations, including
those mounted to a destemmer, on wheels over
the destemmers, those that feed the destemmer,
as well as those with lift conveyors. It all depends
on the client’s needs, which includes factoring-in
the size and age of the winery. “Sometimes, it is
a completely new winery we are building. We get
the total production the desire they to do and size
accordingly. Other times, it is clients who have
grown…and want to increase the quality of their
production. Our options for destemmer capacities
range from a few tons per hour up to 90 tons per
hour. Our most popular units are around 10 to 12
per hour, but we have units of all ranges in the
market.”

Horn said that clients base their product choices Photo Courtesy of: Vintner’s Vault
on two things: quality and budget. In the case of
some purchases, leasing is an option. Although he Hoff agrees that buying options are important, as
declined to name pricing, the company’s website is having a choice of products designed to protect
lists a basic destemmer (with an added auger fea- the grapes from the moment of harvest.
ture) starting as low as $1,100. More sophisticated
models, including some of the IMMA brands, which “We look for a product that can give us clean
have multi-functions such as combined destemming fruit but is able to handle our grape yields without
and crushing, can run well over $40,000. leaving valuable fruit in the vineyard on the vine
or the vineyard floor,” Hoff said. “Generally, if you
The Vintner’s Vault can provide just about every are large enough to spread the costs across your
range and capability of destemmers and hoppers acreage, it would be better to purchase. If your
that a client may need. One example is a hopper acreage is not sufficient, you would opt to lease.
unit with a variable speed auger feed. This config- Products are compared based on fruit quality, har-
uration allows wineries to dump in several tons of vest efficiency, overall cost and that capability of
grapes at a time and, using a variable speed drive, multi-tool use.”
adjust the speed at which the destemmer is fed.
This time-saving feature allows the winery to con- Viticulture industry experts can agree that cutting
tinually dump grapes into the hopper, eliminating the amount of time to get a job done can add up
the need to stop between bins. Horn said the com- to savings over time. For this reason, investing in
pany also consults with clients to determine what destemmers and hoppers that can perform a task
they need now and in the future. and, at the same time, be gentle with the fruit,
leads to improved quality of the product. With
“Some clients want the best of the best, and we technology on the market that can save time and
can provide that for them. Others just need the protect the grapes, wineries enjoy a variety of
necessary equipment to get them started. We try choices.

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