Ever seen a winery harvesting grapes in the middle of the night? In this interview, winemaker Cristian Vallejo talks about why VIK winery in Cachapoal has decided to harvest at night.
To read more about VIK and other wineries in Chile, visit our Chile winery guide
Interview with Cristian Vallejo on the reasons why they’ve decided to harvest at midnight
Cristian, why are we in a vineyard at midnight?
Our holistic philosophy makes us think about nature, and about being sustainable. When you harvest at midnight in Chile, the temperature is around 8-10 degrees Celsius, so grapes arrive in the winery at that temperature. This means that they’ll be taken to the tanks at that temperature and won’t have to undergo a cold maceration. Also, when the grapes are cold they are much better in quality.
So the reasons behind harvesting at midnight are related to quality and to being sustainable and respectful of nature, which is very important for the family and for our work philosophy.
What time do you harvest in the evening? We started at 11 pm, how long will they be harvesting through?
People arrive at the field at 11 pm and will be harvesting until 6 am. The grapes arrive at the winery between 1 am and 9 am and we crush them until 11 am, which means that when the grapes are taken to the tanks they are still at 8-10 degrees Celsius.
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