Published September 17, 2026
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As we begin our 33rd harvest season at Winter’s Hill, we are trying something new. For the first time, we used a mechanical harvester to pick part of our vineyard. The wider spacing and gentle slope of our newest vineyard makes it a good fit for this technique. The machine straddles the row, and uses flexible rods to knock the grapes off of the clusters.
I was happy to see how gentle the machine was. There was very little shaking of the trunks, the canes were not broken, and the leaves remained on the vine after the machine passed through. We’ll use the machine picked fruit in our Rosé of Pinot noir, and a couple of experimental batches of Pinot noir. We are continuing to hand-harvest all of our older vineyards, including our Block 10 Pinot noir this Thursday.
A small winery is a wonderful combination of traditions and new ideas.
Thanks for joining us on the journey!
Russell
P.S. Join us this Saturday to taste our newest wine, Bootcut Rosé. With just 9% alcohol, it’s perfect for long afternoons with good friends. A limited number of horseback rides are still available, contact us to reserve your spot.
