Harvest!!!


Vandangeurs at work
“Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.” Leviticus 26:5

There’s something super-scriptural about harvest time. Be it the harvesting of apples, cherries or grapes, the time signifies the reaping of what has been sown. The joy of a fruitful harvest is however never guaranteed. Hence wine producers pray steadfastly for perfect climate conditions for their particular grapes, which in turn, make different types of wine.
Apples ripe for picking
 The Moselle region of Luxembourg is famous for the harvesting of grapes (Vintage) during the months of September–October annually. Vineyard growers or owners and vandangeur (French word for grape pickers) gear up for the hard work of cutting, separating dead leaves, weeds and bugs from the grapes and transporting them to the production factories of famous wine houses in the region. Owning a vineyard may look glamorous to an outsider – but it takes sheer dedication, perseverance and effort to farm, nurture, harvest and produce some of the best wine in the world.  
Vandangeurs on the Laafbaach Vineyard on the Moselle Region
Our attention turns to the seasonal workers on the vine. Wine houses in Luxembourg employ seasonal workers from all around the world during the 40–48-days harvest season. Luxembourg is a preferred wine-producing destination for pickers from Montenegro and Poland. This may be because of the more favourable working conditions offered by the wine houses; higher price per bucket picked, bed and boarding, the chance to sample some delicious wine and maybe even the breath-taking beauty of the Moselle region.
Lovely smile from a Vandangeur on the field
Dominique (not his real name), pictured here below, said he has been coming to pick grapes for the same wine house since he was a teenager. Fifteen years on, he makes the long 12–hour drive from Poland to Luxembourg with his wife and cousins. As an experienced picker, he speaks of his work as enjoyable but tough; he starts work at 8 a.m. and finishes at 6 p.m. Thankfully, Luxembourg grapevines grow higher than in French vineyards where pickers have to bend down constantly.
Skilled work
The mechanisation of harvesting now employed and preferred by many producers around the world (faster, less labour costly) threatens the work of grape pickers. However, one of the criteria for producing appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) Crémant de Luxembourg maintains that mature, undamaged hand-picked grapes are used. Therefore, it will be a while before I stop seeing scores of vineyard-owners and pickers whizzing through the grape vines row by row during the harvest season.

Poll Fabaire containers used to transport grapes from field
Here is wishing all our partner wine houses a successful and abundant harvest! To learn more about Wines and Crémants from Luxembourg, visit our website or email us.



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