11/03/2026
Robots can absolutely do this step. We keep it analog!
Grape sorting is when the w**ery eliminates grape clusters and individual berries that don’t make the cut. Maybe there’s sunburn, bee damage, bird damage, mold, under ripeness, raisins, anything that won’t make the final w**e better gets tossed (into the compost!).
There is such a thing as an optical sorter. It’s the robot version and they’re actually amazing and deeply not in the budget! So for now we stick to old-school hand sorting. That means we touch virtually every cluster that comes off our vineyard. Here W**emaker Dallas, Cellar Master Jesse, and Interns Kendal and Jeff pull any fruit that isn’t quite right before the grapes head toward fermentation.
We think there’s something to be said for that kind of handmade w**emaking. It fits into what we do here: farm thoughtfully and usher what the vineyard grows into the final bottle of w**e. Pretty simple! Always delicious.
**eisgrownnotmade **e
