You probably have never seen anyone work as furiously as vendangeurs, the men and women who, confined like sprinters in lanes, think fast with their hands as they track between narrow vine rows picking ripe grape bunches.

But it’s Malta’s winemakers that go the distance. To them harvest is a marathon, not a sprint. It will run its long course without stopping until the end of September by when the blankness of their thoughts focused on the last tons of grapes will have filled with the hope of great medal-winning wines in the making.

This year they got off to a quick start since the weather conditions have helped the early ripening grape varieties transition from veraison to full ripeness somewhat speedier than usual.

At the Delicata winery, winemaker Matthew Delicata crushed his first wine grapes of the 2016 vintage on August 1. Chardonnay and aromatic Sauvignon Blanc were the first cultivars to make their way swiftly from the vineyard on to the winery’s automated weigh bridge and into the high-tech crush pad.

The ripe berries showed hardly any signs of powdery mildew (a fungal disease that reduces quality in afflicted vineyards worldwide) and were generally very healthy and full of desirable natural sugars beyond the usual levels. But this year’s yield, or the heft of the crop per hectare, is expected to be lower than the previous three vintages due to the effects of the long period of drought.

Since the day the harvest got out of the starting blocks, Delicata has finished pressing most of this year’s Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc produce from designated vineyards situated in Malta and Gozo for the winery’s DOK and IGT wines.

The first tons of other white wine grape varieties such as Malta-grown Viognier, Moscato Bianco and Albariño, as well as the red-skinned grapes destined for the making of rosés, have started to make their long anticipated homeward stretch to the winery.

At this stage, the harvest season is about one week ahead of the typical schedule.

When to pick is a crucial decision which is made by the winemaker in consultation with his viticultural team. It depends on a number of factors such as the health and characteristics of the grapes, the weather forecast and the style of wine the winemaker intends to make.

Together they analyse the grapes on the vine during the ripening process to check the levels of acidity in the grapes, which will keep the wine refreshing, and the natural grape sugars that can be fermented into alcohol. But it won’t be before the other grape components are also fully developed that the eager grape pickers are given the starting shot.

Delicata’s viticultural team is currently busy sampling vineyard blocks to determine the ripeness of white wine varieties such as Vermentino and Zibibbo for sweet wines and late ripening sorts such as Merlot, Cabernet and Syrah and other grapes for red wines, as well as Malta’s native Girgentina and Ġellewża which are yet to get harvested.

All grapes will be picked skilfully by hand as is the rule in the Delicata domaine of over 380 family-run vineyards rather than automatically by machine.

Picking is nearly always a family affair in Malta. For the remarkable team of hundreds of Maltese vignerons, their many obliging relatives and friends, thousands of pairs of hands strong, the race is on.

■ This article was meant to be published last Friday but one that had appeared on August 5 was erroneously carried. The error is regretted.