CLICK HERE FOR TODAYS PODCAST INTERVIEW WITH BARTHOLOMEW BROADBENT AND TALES OF HIS FIRST GRAPE SORTING EXPERIENCE 
A word on grape sorting before crushing…I love it. I first did it here in South Africa, 5 years ago. It changes the traditional idea of destem-crush. Here it is destem-sort-crush; or sort-destem-sort-crush (for more variable grapes); or, depending on your winemaking plan…destem-sort-no crush!We do pick our grapes clean in the vineyard, and they look good when coming in the bins. But once the grapes are shaken off the stems, it reveals: some little raisins hiding at the bottom of the cluster; a few green berries; some leaves that sneaked through the destemmer; a few particles of stems that broke off; some grapes that did not come off the stem cleanly. If you looked at, or weighed, what we sort out, it would not seem like much. But all of it is what we do NOT want in our fermenter. To me, we are "improving the grapes" , and I know the wine will have greater purity of fruit expression, for having done this.I also love something less tangible about the sort; those grapes rolling off the belt into their fermenter are like paint to the artist. I can see & feel their size, their color, their strengths and weaknesses; they become much more personal; I have a much better feel for this vineyard, by spending time sorting them. (Just to be clear it takes 8 sorters minimum plus someone overseeing the feeding of the grapes and removal of stems, not just me).The photo is Bartholomew Broadbent, our U.S. importer visiting South Africa for the first time; our most excellent sorters; and me; at the sorting belt. Zelma Long, Vilafonte winemaker
A word on grape sorting before crushing…I love it. I first did it here in South Africa, 5 years ago. It changes the traditional idea of destem-crush. Here it is destem-sort-crush; or sort-destem-sort-crush (for more variable grapes); or, depending on your winemaking plan…destem-sort-no crush!We do pick our grapes clean in the vineyard, and they look good when coming in the bins. But once the grapes are shaken off the stems, it reveals: some little raisins hiding at the bottom of the cluster; a few green berries; some leaves that sneaked through the destemmer; a few particles of stems that broke off; some grapes that did not come off the stem cleanly. If you looked at, or weighed, what we sort out, it would not seem like much. But all of it is what we do NOT want in our fermenter. To me, we are "improving the grapes" , and I know the wine will have greater purity of fruit expression, for having done this.I also love something less tangible about the sort; those grapes rolling off the belt into their fermenter are like paint to the artist. I can see & feel their size, their color, their strengths and weaknesses; they become much more personal; I have a much better feel for this vineyard, by spending time sorting them. (Just to be clear it takes 8 sorters minimum plus someone overseeing the feeding of the grapes and removal of stems, not just me).The photo is Bartholomew Broadbent, our U.S. importer visiting South Africa for the first time; our most excellent sorters; and me; at the sorting belt. Zelma Long, Vilafonte winemaker 
