September, for those who work the vineyard, is the month of truth. The harvest is the only exam that cannot be postponed: get the date wrong and you have already lost the year. Every time I think about it, I have enormous respect for those who, in those days, look at the sky more than their phone.

A five-thousand-year-old history

It was already discussed in ancient Egypt, with frescoes showing harvesting and foot stomping. The word itself comes from the Latin vindemia: vinum, wine, and demere, to remove, to gather. With the Romans, it became almost a civil festival, with a priest, the flamen, who officially opened the harvest. In the Middle Ages in France, the date was decided by the lord or the municipality with an edict, the ban de vendanges, and those who harvested early risked hefty fines. Today, the producer decides. The pressure, I assure you, has remained the same.

Between scissors and machines

On one hand, there is still hand-harvesting, basket and scissors, indispensable for classic method sparkling wines and for the steepest vineyards, such as in Valtellina or on the Moselle, where a machine simply does not fit. On the other hand, there are harvesters, often at night, when it is cool and the grapes arrive at the cellar without oxidizing. And there are those who select the berries one by one on a sorting table: work for Carthusian monks.

How to choose the right day

The winemaker does not look at the calendar, they look at three things: the sugars, which will become alcohol, the acidity, which gives freshness and longevity, and the maturity of skins and tannins. The trouble is that they are almost never ready all at once. That is why today many cellars harvest the same vineyard in multiple passes, plot by plot.

Extreme harvests

There is the late harvest, weeks after the normal time, to concentrate sugars and aromas: it is the base of many great sweet wines. And there is the absolute record, Icewine, in Canada and Germany: grapes harvested frozen, below minus 8 degrees, often at night. Think about it the next time you look at a bunch of grapes.

Come toast to the harvest. By the glass, with the Coravin, every vintage tells its story. Coravin Wine Bar, Via Carlo Maderno 23, Lugano. Cheers!