To hand pick or not?

As we were walking out this fine morning on what should be but isn't, our daily constitutional, we came upon this fine crop.

What makes this shot interesting is the condition of the fruit. Like 90% of the producers around here in the Luberon this vineyard mechanically picks the grapes. Now our good friends the winemakers at Domaine Fav maintain that to get the best results everything has to be handpicked in order to only take the perfect bunches leaving out the dried up or mouldy stuff. Makes a lot of sense. What makes this shot interesting is that the vineyard has been up and down the rows cutting out the less than perfect bunches and cutting back the foliage. Very clever, minimum labour cost on the hand picking, maximum speed in the cool of the morning which is needed for the white and the rosé wine.