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Vineyard Has Picking Down To A Wine Art

Tribune photo by GREG FIGHT

Steve Hammond walks in front of the harvester to guide it as grapes are harvested at the family-owned Blue Heron Vineyards in Lithia.

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By LAURA FRAZIER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2008

Updated:

LITHIA - Dan Alatorre arrived at Blue Heron Vineyards at the crack of dawn, ripe with anticipation.

Alatorre, a hobbyist winemaker who tends a few grape vines in his backyard, came to watch the comparatively big-scale operation at Bob and Bonniejean Paulish's commercial vineyard.

"This is what I hope to be able to do some day," he said.

Alatorre snapped pictures and shot video while Bob Paulish, high above the ground at the controls of a grape harvester, used mechanical beater-bar arms to shake the juicy, thick-skinned fruit loose from 2,200 vines spread over 10 acres.

The multitasking machine channeled the fresh-picked fruit along a conveyor, up into 1-ton holding bins secured to its chassis. When the bins were full, Paulish drove the harvester to the front of his property and transferred the containers to a flatbed truck destined for a winery in Central Florida.

A few hours into the morning, Paulish cut the engine and dismounted the harvester for a 20-minute break. It takes the Paulishes and a few hired hands two days to harvest the crop using the giant harvester.

"It's a lot of work," he said, mopping dusty sweat from his face and neck. "I don't sit at a desk too much doing this."

The grape farmers, both retired from corporate computer consulting jobs in Chicago, sold this year's harvest - about 30 tons - to Lakeridge Winery in Clermont, where it will yield some 10,500 bottles of wine.

They bought the property in 1995 and built their home on the land a couple of years later. Since then, life - and business - have been fruitful.

Paulish said the faltering economy thankfully hasn't affected his business so far, but weather is another story. Tropical storms and hurricanes have been known to wreak havoc in the fields, and parts of his vineyard are still recovering from the 2004 hurricane season. Hurricane Jeanne was particularly destructive.

"Jeanne took out a lot of oak trees and knocked down a lot of vines," Paulish said. "When hurricanes come through, they vibrate the vines and shake 'em up a lot. I think they didn't like that at all."

Muscadine grapes, which are native to Florida, grow on the vine as single berries, not in bunches like other grapes. They grow in red and white varieties, are resistant to pests and fungus and, Paulish said, are relatively easy to care for.

"We don't spray them with pesticides, and even in the rainy season, fungus wasn't really a problem," he said. "The only thing I spray for is weeds."

By September, with the labor-intensive annual harvest behind them, Bonniejean Paulish said there is blessed little to be done in the fields until pruning season in January.

The long hiatus creates a block of free time the couple fill by volunteering as ushers at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, coordinating the Florida International Wine Competition at the Florida State Fair and logging frequent flier miles.

Last year, while the vines rejuvenated, the couple explored Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. This month, they will jet to Paris to celebrate Bob's 70th birthday. They plan to sample French wines at every opportunity.

"We'll try all of it," Bonniejean Paulish said. "As much as we can drink."

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523 or

lfrazier@tampatrib.com.

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