Harvest Season Looks Different This Year: Here’s How to Prepare

I don’t think there is any way to get around the fact that there’s a lot working against wineries heading into harvest 2026. Oversupply in the broader market, rising production costs, unpredictable weather patterns, and labor shortages have made pre-harvest planning more critical, and more complicated, than it has been in years. The wineries that will come out of this season strongest aren’t necessarily the ones with the most resources. They’re the ones that kept their focus on operations and wine quality when everything else felt uncertain.

This season, DG Winemaking is focusing on three of the most practical areas of pre-harvest preparation that can help wineries plan efficiently with retaining resources (labor and costs) in mind. These challenges don’t discriminate by size — whether you’re managing a 500-case operation or a 50,000-case production, the fundamentals of cellar prep, operational planning, and equipment readiness apply equally. In fact, for smaller wineries with less room for error, getting these things right before harvest may matter even more.

1. Get Your Cellar In Order

Cellar prep starts with two non-negotiables: finish bottling and getting your supplies ordered. Both should be done well before the grapes arrive. 

Running bottling operations alongside active fermentations is a logistical headache and can increase the risk of bottling contamination due to the higher microbial load in the cellar during harvest. Aim to wrap up bottling by May or June (depending on your location), giving your team a genuine reset before crush begins. 

Use that same window to review and reorder your enological and laboratory supplies including things like residual sugar testing kits, sample tubes and bottles, biological control agents for grapes that will sit before processing, and a reliable fermentation record-keeping system. A few hours of planning in early summer can save you from scrambling when the season is already in full swing.

All DG Winemaking Members and Clients have access to tools that may help preparation easier this vintage. This includes the updated Enological Product Must-Haves for Harvest.

2. Plan Winemaking Operations with the Reality of 2026 in Mind

If your team is leaner than usual or budget constraints are limiting what you can order this season, you need a backup plan before the grapes arrive, not after. The good news is that one of the most effective ways to protect wine quality under those conditions costs nothing but a little time: a well-written processing plan. 

If this sounds intimidating to you or you don’t know where to start, resources like DG Winemaking can help outline key, essential processes that determine wine quality so you don’t have to guess. (You can listen to our Season 2, Episode 9 podcast episode: Same Grape, Different Story: Processing Your Way to a Distinct Aromatic White Wine for how DG Winemaking approaches this practice.)

Planning out winemaking processes before grapes arrive to the crush pad is a straightforward discipline that pays dividends all season long. This includes detailing step-by-step winemaking operations, including products that you are going to use in the appropriate order of use and with actual dosage rates. While this is a service provided regularly to DG Winemaking Clients, Elite Members can review an example harvest processing plan, here, and we can also build new or review more details in an existing plan during our twice-monthly Q&A sessions. Plus, DG Winemaking provides a series of templates for 4 different processing styles that Clients and Members can use at any time:

• White and Rosé Wine Production: Crush/Destem Processing
• White and Rosé Wine Production: Full (Whole) Cluster Processing
• Red Wine Production: Primary Fermentation with Sequential MLF
• Red Wine Production: Co-Fermentation (Co-Inoculation)

I generally encourage wineries to have one processing plan per style of wine. This not only reduces the guessing that takes place during harvest, but to streamline communication with your cellar team and keeps quality consistent even when resources are stretched. 

3. Equipment Considerations Cannot Go Overlooked

Every year, at least one winery calls me mid-crush to report a press failure. And every year, it’s a reminder of how costly that scramble becomes when freshly picked grapes are waiting. A press that goes down on day one is more than an inconvenience; it’s a quality and financial risk that no winery can afford, especially in a tight market. 

The fix is straightforward: pull your equipment out now, while there’s still time to source parts or schedule repairs before the season begins.

That means running through anything that’s been in storage since last harvest (e.g., crushers, destemmers, sorters, pumps, must hoses, and presses) as well as equipment you’ll rely on daily during the harvest season. 

Don’t overlook the lab, either. Check chemical expiration dates, inspect your hydrometers, test your pH meter probe, and confirm you have the standards and replacement parts you’ll need on hand. These are small tasks that take minutes to address now and hours to work around in August through October.

For a complete pre-harvest equipment checklist, the Winemaker’s Pre-Harvest Prep Timeline walks through everything a winery should review before the season begins.

The pressures facing wineries this season are real, but they don’t have to define your harvest season. The wineries that come through 2026 strongest will be the ones that planned ahead, stayed focused on quality, and didn’t wait for problems to find them. The good news is that the steps that make the biggest difference aren’t complicated: finish bottling, lock in your supplies, write your processing plans, and test your equipment while there’s still time to act. Start now. And if you need guidance along the way, that’s exactly what DG Winemaking is here for.

The views and opinions expressed through dgwinemaking.com are intended for general informational purposes only. Denise Gardner Winemaking does not assume any responsibility or liability for those winery, cidery, or alcohol-producing operations that choose to use any of the information seen here or within dgwinemaking.com.