How lockdown didn’t stop Argentina’s wine harvest

(Imbibe) Health and safety measures, picker location tracing, and on-site living quarters: Argentina’s bodegas have worked hard to protect their 2020 harvests during Covid-19. Sorrel Moseley-Williams reports.

Social distancing at Bodega El Esteco’s vineyards. Ph: Francisco Tellechea.

When Argentina’s government implemented national lockdown from 20 March – with just three hours’ notice – many wineries in Mendoza had already reached the final stages of picking, thanks to the unusually hot weather between December and February that brought forward harvest by an average of three weeks.

With grape must and wine production designated as essential foodstuff by the government’s Labour and Production Assistance Programme (ATP), wineries were allowed to continue picking and undertake the first steps in the winemaking process. Ensuring staff health and safety however, required an array of measures and logistics that needed to be quickly implemented.

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