Welcome to the machine -- the wine machine

Remember the classic episode of "I Love Lucy" where Lucy is in Italy cruching grapes in a vat with her feet? How would you like to drink some of that wine? Well, no need to worry about that happening to the wine you're drinking these days. The days of picking grapes with your hands and crushing the grapes with your feet are fleeting. More and more wineries are investing their money in equipment which mechanically harvests and crushes the grapes. With the growing demand for wine, wineries are expanding and are finding it difficult to manage the crop by hand. During the two month period of the crush - from September to November - you'll find haresting machines doing all the work that human hands used to do. Almonst 50 percent of wineries have reported that in 2006, they increased their equipment budget. Not only does this help the winery combat the growing harvest, but it also gives them a greater ability to fine tune their wine to their own specifications.