Pre-cooling

Grapes are harvested from early morning - around 5:00 am - and placed in plastic containers. Grapes are cut by trained staff, who handle the fruit with
particular care to prevent bruising.

The plastic containers (picking crates) are transported to the pack house and immediately placed in the cold store to ensure maintenance of the cold chain. All fruit is harvested and transported to the pack house before 9:00 am while it is still cool. At this stage outside temperatures range between 14ºC and 18ºC. Fruit is kept at these temperatures in pre-cooling to maintain the cold chain.

In the pack house and palletising area the temperatures range between 18ºC and 20ºC and grapes are packed within six to eight hours. This ensures that the cold chain is maintained. The grapes are placed in forced air cooling for about 72 hours. Having been cooled down to a temperature of 1ºC, fruit is ready for shipping.