The 2026 harvest IS here — and we’re hearing about it everywhere.
Which got my Partner in Wine and me thinking: What better time to talk about how wine actually gets made?
And that story begins with harvest. There’s something wonderfully simple about the idea of wine harvest. The grapes are ripe. You pick them. You make wine.
Except, of course, it isn’t quite that simple.
It’s not just about ripe grapes
Wine grapes change dramatically as they ripen. Sugar increases. Acidity decreases. Flavors develop. Seeds and stems mature. And eventually, the winemaker has to decide that the balance is right.
Pick earlier and the grapes will generally have more acidity and less sugar. Wait longer and you’ll typically get riper fruit, more sugar and lower acidity.
Why does the sugar matter? Because those sugars are essentially the fuel for fermentation. During fermentation, yeast converts the grapes’ natural sugars into alcohol. So, generally speaking, more sugar in the grapes at harvest means the potential for more alcohol in the finished wine.
Winemakers aren’t simply walking through the vineyard with a sugar meter waiting for a magic number, though. There’s plenty of scientific testing happening as harvest approaches, but the winemaker and winemaking team are tasting, too. We’ve been at many wineries as harvest approaches, and the winemaker is out walking the vines and tasting grapes daily. They may taste the grapes, look at the seeds, feel the skins and consider whether the flavors have developed the way they want. At the same time, they’re already thinking ahead to what will happen to that fruit once it reaches the winery. Harvest is where the vineyard and the cellar really come together.
Depending on the winery, the winemaker may also be working closely with a vineyard manager or viticulturist — essentially the person focused on growing the grapes — as they walk vineyard blocks, taste fruit, watch the weather, review lab results and decide which grapes need to come in and when. This varies by winery, but winemaking truly takes a village!
Science can tell a winemaker the sugar levels, acidity and plenty of other useful information. But science can’t make the final decision. There’s still an art to knowing when these particular grapes, in this particular vineyard, in this particular year are ready.
And maybe that’s one of the reasons we’re so fascinated by the winemakers we meet. They’re part scientist, part farmer and part artist. How many jobs require that combination — with the final result being something we get to open and enjoy years later?
But then, of course, there’s Mother Nature. She may get involved and have a completely different plan…
Sometimes the weather makes the decision
Imagine the grapes are almost where you want them — and there’s heavy rain in the forecast.
Do you wait?
This is where being a winemaker starts to sound a little stressful to us. They’ve watched these grapes develop for months, and now a weather forecast can force a decision that can’t be undone. Once those grapes are picked, they’re picked. There’s no putting them back on the vine for another three days.
Part science. Part gut. Part gamble, even?
Rain can swell grapes and dilute their juice. Too much moisture can also increase the risk of rot or mildew. But on the other hand, picking several days earlier than planned can mean giving up a little additional ripening. And suddenly, harvest becomes a judgment call.
That’s part of what makes vintage variation so interesting. The year printed on the bottle represents an entire growing season — and a series of decisions made in response to it. That’s also part of what we love about many of the smaller producers we gravitate toward. While some wine brands work hard to create a consistent style from year to year — so the bottle you buy this year tastes much like the one you loved last year — many of the producers we enjoy are happy to let the personality of a particular vintage show through. Weather, growing conditions and decisions made during harvest all become part of the story of that bottle.
And not everything gets picked at once
If you’ve ever visited wine country during harvest, you may have noticed that one vineyard is buzzing with activity while another nearby looks completely untouched. That is because different grape varieties ripen at different times. Even the same grape planted in different locations can be ready at different times. So a vineyard that grows multiple grape varieties, or even the same grape in various locations (or blocks) throughout the vineyard, may be harvesting those grapes over a period of weeks — sometimes much longer — all based on when those particular grapes have reached the level of ripeness the winemaker wants for that wine.
Grapes destined for sparkling wine, for example, are often among the earliest picked because producers are looking for that beautiful natural acidity. Some varieties naturally ripen earlier than others, while grapes destined for richer or more concentrated styles may stay on the vine considerably longer.
And that means the winemaker may be making these decisions over and over again throughout harvest. One block may be ready today, another later in the week, while another variety still has weeks to go. It’s less like choosing the harvest date and more like managing a constantly moving puzzle.
The takeaway? Harvest isn’t really one event. It’s a season. A winery might begin picking some grapes while others still have weeks — or much longer — to go.
Hand-picked or machine-picked?
You’ll hear wineries proudly mention that their grapes are hand harvested. That means exactly what it sounds like: crews move through the vineyard cutting individual clusters from the vines by hand.
Hand harvesting allows greater selectivity and can be especially useful on steep terrain or where the producer wants to be particularly careful with the fruit. Some wineries or vineyard operations maintain their own crews year-round — an expensive commitment, particularly for smaller producers. Others rely on seasonal workers or vineyard management companies that bring in crews when it’s time to pick.
Mechanical harvesting is much faster and can be extremely efficient — particularly in larger or relatively flat vineyards. Modern machines can be surprisingly sophisticated, although hand harvesting allows crews to make selections in the vineyard and to work in places where machines simply can’t go.
And in some of the steep vineyards we’ve visited, it’s immediately obvious why hand harvesting isn’t a romantic choice — it’s the only practical one.
Neither type of harvesting alone tells you whether the wine will be good, but it’s always interesting to understand how the winery chooses to harvest.
One more thing you’ll hear: night harvesting
In warm wine regions, harvest crews frequently begin picking late at night or in the very early morning. Picking during those cooler hours means the fruit arrives at the winery cool rather than having spent hours baking in the afternoon sun.
Drive through Napa — or almost any wine region — during harvest and you’ll often see crews working under huge spotlights, gently picking grapes while most of us are still asleep. It’s quite a sight the first time you experience it. You’re driving back from dinner and suddenly pass a vineyard completely lit up and bustling with people. Then you realize — they’re harvesting! And somehow, seeing it happen right there makes the bottle you just shared at dinner come to life just a little more.
What happens after wine harvest
After the grapes are harvested, then those grapes head to the winery. And that’s when things get REALLY interesting. And a little messy…
Up next in our Behind the Bottle series: What actually happens during “crush”?
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