3.2.1.b Sorting in the vineyard during the harvest

When there is a high risk of fungal disease and the vines' health is severely compromised, sorting in the vineyard may be considered. This on-site sorting requires longer immobilization of the teams and equipment transportation while not necessarily saving time. On the other hand, it can be deployed to reduce "bottlenecks" in the winery, free up space and facilitate sorting before vatting. In this way, pre-sorting may save time and space (the sorted grapes, which can represent a substantial volume, no longer take up space in the winery). However, pre-sorting is not always necessary, for example, if the winery has Optical sorting equipment, capable of separating damaged grapes from healthy ones, especially those affected by mildew.

At Chateau Latour, sorting is entirely manual. The 2018 vintage was characterized by a significant threat of mildew, with many bunches partially affected, the pre-sorting work required was colossal in order to achieve the highly qualitative result ultimately obtained. The harvesters were instructed to pre-sort according to the degree to which the fruit was affected: if only partially affected one or two secateur cuts can be sufficient for pre-sorting. On the other hand, for critically affected fruit, it is possible to go up to three or four secateur cuts per bunch. Another solution consists of, rather than lightly trimming every bunch, thoroughly trimming selected bunches, so as not to have to handle every bunch on the sorting tables.