Wine culture
Harvest: the most important weeks
Picking date is a decision: ripeness, acidity and weather together say when the fruit must come in.
Harvest is not a single day but a process running over weeks, with separate decisions for each variety and each site. Growers weigh sugar, acidity, skin and seed ripeness and the weather forecast together.
Picking earlier gives fresher acidity and a lighter body; picking later gives more concentration and riper aromatics. Both are style decisions. Botrytis-affected or shrivelled berries require slow, selective picking — one reason those wines are costly and highly dependent on the season.
Good tasting is not about finding the correct answer; it is the practice of attention.
Sources and editorial approach
This article relies on established wine knowledge. Specific claims about producers or vintages are published only with cited sources.
