Saeed Khan, who works for KG Vineyard Management, talks about his experiences working as a farmer and what is like to go through a harvest at Ripken Vineyards in the early morning hours of Thursday, in Lodi. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

The harvest begins

Under star-flecked skies through a grueling pace, man and machine bring in Lodi's prized grapes

Under starry night skies this time of year, an army of mechanized grape harvesters — lit up like Christmas trees — descends upon Lodi's vineyards to reap the prized grape crop.

The time-honored grape harvest began in full this week.

It's a 24-hour-a-day job, but much of the picking takes place at night, forcing crews to work long and odd hours.

Harvesters have little choice in the matter. That's because winery delivery schedules must be staggered to best collect all the region's grapes.

It's also better for the fruit; cooler temperatures preserve its quality, and keep the two-story tall machines from overheating.

The nighttime job can be grueling and dangerous. But for at least one local harvesting crew, it's pure joy.

"It's an exciting time to be a grower," said Ben Kolber, co-owner of KG Vineyard Management, over the raucous rumble of the harvester, early Thursday morning.

"You work all year, and this is the one time to get it to the winery," he shouted, as the machine fleeced a row of chardonnay grapes at one of Ripken Vineyard and Winery's fields near Highway 12 and DeVries Road.

The harvester's bright lights create pockets of illumination in the dark surroundings. The machines move slowly through the fields, and often onto the area's country roads and highways.

Their roar is matched only by the passing semi-trucks on early morning commutes down Highway 12.

For the unfamiliar, it's easy to imagine the bright yellow machines as something from out of this world.

"It looks like a UFO going down the middle of a vineyard," Kolber noted.

Kolber and Kris Gutierrez, both Tokay High School graduates, founded KG five years ago, and manage crops for more than 40 farmers from Modesto to Sacramento.

Thursday night was the team's first pick of the season, one which will keep the pair busy for months.

"It's pretty much non-stop until the grapes are off the vine," said Kolber, 27, wearing black-rimmed eye glasses and a baseball cap.

Local growers will work as late as November to pluck the fruit from the fields.

Kolber and Gutierrez, 31, employ between five and eight workers at a time, enough to man the two tractors, the harvester and the gondola bins that collect the grapes.

Their crew, an all-Pakistani group Thursday night, does much of the tough work, driving the machines through the fields, washing them and repairing them when necessary.

During their 10-hour shift, the team harvested 91 tons of grapes, and later trucked the load to the Woodbridge Winery. That's enough to produce roughly 182 barrels of wine.

In the field, each crew member has a different role. Asif Khan, the crew's foreman, drives the lead tractor, pulling the harvester forward. Saeed Khan, on Thursday night, monitored the harvester's top-level fan unit, which blows out the vine's leaves and stems.

His rubber rain suit, like several other crew members', was showered with a soufflé of green goop.

Another team member watches the machine from below, making sure its conveyor buckets don't get jammed. Yet another drives a tractor pulling the gondola bin.

Those bins are lined up across the row from the harvester, which shoots the grapes into the inside from an extended arm.

Pausing for a moment just before dawn, Asif Khan said he enjoys the outdoor work.

"I like this job. I don't like a factory job," said the Lodi resident, who's worked for Ripken Vineyards for 10 years.

"(Richard Ripken — the company's owner) is a good guy. (Kris) respects me. I respect him," Khan added.

Young and full of energy, Kolber and Gutierrez say they hope to expand their business in coming years.

The two took different paths to the grape world.

Gutierrez has worked since high school "doing everything" on friends' vineyards. He also took viticulture classes at Delta College, and now serves as manager for all 600 acres of Ripken's vineyards.

Kolber, in contrast, studied jazz and contemporary R&B at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved full-time into vineyard management after meeting and later marrying Madelyn Ripken, the owner's daughter and winemaker.

Seated atop the harvester, with the strong, fruity smell of grapes cutting through the night air, Kolber and Gutierrez said they can't imagine getting out of the business anytime soon.

"I think, somehow, I'll always be connected to the wine industry," said Kolber.

"It's kind of hard to stop and change to something else," Gutierrez added.

The pair harvested 12 acres on their first night. But they won't have much time to rest.

They've got 168 acres more to pluck in the next two weeks.

"These are the hardest two weeks," Gutierrez said, noting he and Kolber will likely nap in their pickups to catch up on sleep.

As the sun crept over the eastern horizon, the two departed to get some rest.

"There is no 9 to 5 with this," added Kolber.

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.