Page 13 - Grapevine SeptOct 2021

In The Winery

Pacific Northwest, have also suffered from extreme lag time for other pieces that are critical to a suc-
heat. Richard Hoff, Director of Viticulture for the cessful crush season.
renowned Mercer Ranches in Washington State’s
Yakima Valley, said that the high temperatures “The supply chain for parts is just as bad for grape
have impacted their crush season schedule. equipment and supplies. Finding and hiring new
employees is definitely a big struggle this year. We
“As far as harvest impacts, due to the 110 F, 115 F are lucky in that we utilize H2A and do not foresee
heatwave we had, grapes are ripening quickly, and any people issues at this time.”
we expect a somewhat early harvest.”
The H2A program allows American companies that
Gadd-Coster added that supplies and equipment meet strict regulatory requirements to bring for-
are harder to come by as the businesses that pro- eign nationals to the U.S. to fill temporary agricul-
vide them are tackling some of the same obstacles tural jobs. Many crush seasons depend upon these
as their vineyard and winery clients. workers. However, some wineries are increasingly
looking to technology to replace manual labor for
“Equipment and supplies are taking longer. That specific tasks.
still hasn’t changed much yet. And some things are
just not available–long wait times. This was the Sorting fruit is one of those jobs where technology
case with some of our winemaking additives, some can step in to help maximize results. John Felice,
packaging items.” Vineyard & Winery Equipment & Product Specialist
for Pellenc, points to the manufacturer’s Vision
John Derrick is Vice President of Vineyards for Optical Sorter as a solution.
Mercer Ranches. He says there has been significant

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