After Harvest
See also: Harvest (wine)In the vineyard, the antepenultimate event is the harvest in which the grapes are removed from the vine and transported to the winery to begin the wine making process. In the Northern Hemisphere this is generally between September and October while in the Southern Hemisphere it is generally between February and April. The time of harvest depends on a variety of factors-most notably the subjective determination of ripeness. As the grape ripens on the vines, sugars and pH increase as acids (such as malic acid) decrease. Tannins and other phenolics also develop which can affect the flavors and aromas in the resulting wine. The threat of detrimental weather and vine diseases (such as grey rot) can also play a role in the time table. The balance of all these factors contributes to when a winemaker or vineyard manager decides that it is time to harvest.
Following the harvest, the vines continues the process of photosynthesis, creating carbohydrate reserves to store in the vine's roots and trunks. It will continue doing this until an appropriate level of reserves have been stored. At that point the chlorophyll in the leaves begin to break down and the leaves change color from green to yellow. Following the first frost the leaves begin to fall as the vine starts to enter its winter dormancy period. The following spring, the cycle begins again.
Read more about this topic: Annual Growth Cycle Of Grapevines
Famous quotes containing the word harvest:
“The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.”
—Hermann Hesse (18771962)
“The prairies were dust. Day after day, summer after summer, the scorching winds blew the dust and the sun was brassy in a yellow sky. Crop after crop failed. Again and again the barren land must be mortgaged for taxes and food and next years seed. The agony of hope ended when there was not harvest and no more credit, no money to pay interest and taxes; the banker took the land. Then the bank failed.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (18861968)