Wine grape harvest kicks off at Pioneer Valley High School

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The wine grape harvest has begun at Pioneer Valley High School.

With no agriculture students on campus, about a dozen staff members went to harvest the small vineyard located behind the softball field.

The yield for the varietals included 200 pounds of chardonnay and 120 pounds of pinot noir.

Agriculture/FFA teacher Hector Guerra said he wanted the staff to join in on the excitement.

“Normally I go out to the vineyard to harvest with my classes and it ends up a fun experience for them to see the end product,’’ Guerra said. “This year, with not having the students around, I figured I would invite the staff to join in on the fun.’’

This would have been the last cycle of the viticulture portion for students. They would have started work on chemistry and then marketing.

The vineyard was planted about five years ago.