Top 5 Vineyard Equipment Companies & What They Offer

By: Alyssa L. Ochs

Choosing the right equipment is one of the most important decisions a vineyard owner will ever make, especially since heavy pieces of machinery are significant investments built to last for many years. Some companies that cater to the needs of vineyards specialize in just certain, niche types of equipment, while others are onestop shops that offer nearly everything required to grow and harvest grapes for making wine.

To help you narrow your options, here are five top companies offering vineyard equipment and what makes them stand out as suppliers in this industry.

Gearmore, Inc.: 24 Implements to Make Your Vineyard More Productive Gearmore,

Inc. is an employee-owned business specializing in implements for the agricultural and light construction industries. Based in Chino, California, Gearmore has been in business for approximately 60 years and provides quality implements through servicing tractor dealers.

Robert Giersbach, the marketing manager for Gearmore, told The Grapevine Magazine, “We have always placed a priority on vineyard implements due to the large acreage on the west coast. There are about 900,000 acres of vineyards in California, which includes table, raisin and the largest being 615,000 acres of wine grapes.”

Since growing grapes requires many types of machinery, Gearmore offers 24 unique implements for vineyards in varying widths and capacities. These include vine trimmers, leaf removers, pre-pruners and multiple pieces of spraying equipment. Gearmore also offers compost spreaders, rotary tillers, soil conditioners, weeders, cultivators and numerous other options relevant to essential vineyard work.

“The California vineyards are planted in row spacings from four to 12 feet, with six- and eight- foot rows now being the most popular. The coastal vines are using mainly trellis with vertical shoot positions, but the hotter Central Valley requires a trellis system, such as California sprawl, double cross arms or quad.”

Kingsburg Cultivator, Inc.: Durable Products with Replacement Parts

Kingsburg Cultivator, Inc. was established near the small, rural town of Kingsburg, California in the 1950s as an agricultural equipment manufacturing and repair company. Chuck Norris from Kingsburg Cultivator said that his company offers a wide range of equipment and solutions for all seasons.

“We specialize in berm management solutions, which include our products made in the central valley of California,” Norris said. “We also import equipment out of Italy known as Orizzonti. Within our berm management division, we have mowers, blades, discs, sweeps, tillers, paddles and string weeders. We have single-sided and double-sided frames that we can mount in either the front or rear front or rear of the tractor based on the needs of the customer.”

KCI’s pruning division offers various pre-pruning solutions available in both single and double-sided frames. These options include sickle bars, disc pruners and high-speed skirters with many adjusting configurations available year-round.

“Our Orizzonti line offers different length shredders as well,” Norris said. “You can interchange flail blades or hammers in any of the shredders we offer. Our spreader division consists of vineyard models and has interchangeable attachments for different applications. We offer a KCM 58 and KCM512 with bander and spinner attachments. The spreader dimensions are five inches wide by eight inches long and five inches wide by 12 inches long. The banding configuration comes in five-, six- and eight-inch lengths. Our supersealed bander allows little to no loss in product.”

KCI has been a manufacturer of vineyard equipment for over 65 years, starting with a belt drive skirter that operated off the crankshaft of the tractor. Since then, the company has stood out because of the quality of its products, outstanding service and replacement parts on hand.

“Since the beginning of time, we at KCI have had a high expectation of product quality and durability, and we stand behind our products,” Norris said. “Customer and field service also is what sets us apart from other similar businesses. With our experienced office and shop staff, we can help our customers timely and efficiently. KCI makes sure to prepare and have replacement parts on the shelf ready for when our customers are in need. We understand that downtime is a very costly expense and always keep the customers’ best interests in mind. With us being a fabrication shop, in some cases, we can even build parts for equipment other than ours if our customer isn’t able to find the part needed. We also do field repairs of our equipment for our customers with service trucks and skilled technicians if we can’t diagnose and troubleshoot the problem over the phone.”

New Holland Agriculture: Grape Harvesters & Tractors Just for Vineyards

New Holland Agriculture, a subsidiary of CNH Industrial, brings over 125 years of experience to the industry and serves vineyards with specialty tractors and grape harvesters. Tanner Cady, a viticulture marketing specialist for specialty tractors and harvesters at the company, told The Grapevine that New Holland Agriculture’s specialty tractors come in various ranges for horsepower, width, height and traction style, specifically the T4F/V, T3F and TK4 models.

“Wine grapes range in row spacings from 3.5 feet to 11 feet,” Cady said. “We have three different tractor widths – 42 inches (T4V), 55 inches (T3F)