In my stamping ground, the Rodney district just north of Auckland City in New Zealand, Kerr Farm is one of the few wineries to use a mechanical grape harvester to pick the grapes. Most of the other vineyards in the Rodney wine areas of Kumeu and Matakana harvest grapes by hand and this is not surprising as most of the vineyards are quite small - just a few hectares.

But Jaison Kerr decided to buy the upright, Californian-made grape harvester from the local contractor upon his retirement. With the harvester, the labour force is small compared to those who hand-pick, and if the grapes are in good condition, then all systems are go.

It's only about a 30 minute drive from my home to the rural backblocks of Kumeu, so I headed out to Jaison and Wendy Kerr's vineyard to catch a lift on the harvesting machine and to get a view from the top.

But there's some vineyard preparation to do prior to the machine being taken out of the shed. All the vines are netted to protect them from the marauding blackbirds, thrushes, mynahs and white-eyes, the feathered flying pests who can spot a sweet ripe grape from a distance. So, of course the nets have to be removed before the mechanical harvester can do its job

As the nets were placed on the vines at veraison (at the time the grapes start changing colour) some time ago, the first task is to cut off the canes of the vines that have grown through the nets in the interim. Then the nets can be lifted cleanly.

Jaison drives the tractor and his vineyard assistant, Paul Coleman, stands at the back of the machine to stuff the nets into the bag.

"Right we're off" says Jaison at the wheel of his Fiat tractor

Here's the setup for net removal, Jaison in the driving seat, Paul at the rear platform

More of Paul's rear

This year, for the first time, Jaison had additional help from the local labour force. They walked ahead of the tractor to lift the nets from the grass at the base and the stray canes on the sides. "Does this make a difference", I asked. "Yes", said Jaison, "it makes it easier to lift the nets and reduces the risk of tearing". It was interesting to meet the helpers, who were from India originally. They passed around some very tasty chapatti's for lunch, which made a welcome difference to my diet.

Walking ahead of the tractor, pulling the nets from the long grass. This is left long on purpose so the grass secures the nets.

And another view of the operation, this time at the rear, perched high to take photos.

Jasion designed a unique pulley (looks like it is made from an old tyre rim) to aid the stuffing of the nets into the bag as they come off the vines. When the bags are full, they're thrown off the tractor, like a hay bail. They'll be picked up later and taken to the shed where they will be stored until next year's vintage.

Kiwi ingenuity with an old tyre rim for to aid net recovery

The net bag sits on a frame to make stuffing easy.

Net bags lie at the end of the rows when filled

Meanwhile, Wendy Kerr and her helper, Alison McGinty, hand-pick the first three vines in each row because the machine harvester does not pick to the ends satisfactorily. And because of a variation Jaison made to his trellising system, some of the bunches are hanging too low, so any bunches below the bottom wire have to be harvested by hand.

Alison's grandson Clinton is the right size to get to the low bunches

Alison McGinty through the vines

These grapes used to get 'bird peck', now they get 'dog lick'. Wendy and her trusty companion.

Preparation takes the full day, so the next morning Jaison crawls out of bed and switches the harvester on about 7.30am to warm up while he and Wendy area having breakfast. About 9am they're ready to start. Earmuffs are donned. Jaison's in the driving seat, Wendy sets at the back of the harvester to check for large branches and broken wires, while Paul drives the tractor towing the grape bin. There are no practice runs and there is no reverse. Once you are in you're committed to the whole length of the row, which is about 250m on Kerr Farm.

Jaisons like the king of the vineyard from his high perch

Wendy's at the rear, focussing on what's been picked

A head on shot of the harvester straddling the vine and the tractor towing hopper

The grapes are shaken and beaten off the vines by the metal 'beaters' and the berries are conveyed into the hopper, towed by the tractor, via a series of conveyor belts. This required careful co-ordination between Jaison the harvester and Paul on the tractor.

Paul keeps his eye on the harvester as the semillon grapes are conveyed into the hopper

Kerr Farm do not have their own winery, so when the hopper is full, the grapes are loaded into a waiting truck and whisked to the winery in Henderson, about 20 minutes drive away. Sulphur is added at the vineyard to stop the grapes browning and the truck is off.

Three hours later, they've finished. 18 rows have been picked. Before they had the mechanical harvester this would have taken 30 people a full two days, perhaps more, depending on the yield. Now it is just four, with Alison walking along the rows to pick anything that has been missed.

Grapes being transferred from hopper to truck

As Jaison hoses the harvester, this shot shows the beaters that shake the vines

It's important to have the harvester spotless before it's put away.

For the Kerr's there's tidying up to do, then lunch and a afternoon snooze, well for some, but Jaison's keen to follow the grapes to the winery to check progress.

But for this section of the vineyard, the nets are off and stored away, the grapes are harvested so there's nothing to do now except wait for the vines to lose their leaves before the next vineyard job - pruning.

As for me, I took some grapes home, some Pinotage, and made some pots of Pinotage Jelly and Pinotage Jam, something to remind me of my 2001 harvest experience throughout the winter.

Here's some photos of the grapes we picked -

Sauvignon Blanc

Pinotage

Semillon