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GrapeSort brings fully automated optical grape sorting to modern wineries, helping remove unwanted berries and foreign material with exceptional precision before pressing. As part of the Willmes & Armbruster crush equipment portfolio, GrapeSort integrates seamlessly into the grape processing line - delivering cleaner fruit, reduced manual sorting, and reliable performance during the industry's most time-critical production period.
GrapeSort gives wineries greater control over fruit quality from the very first processing step. By combining advanced optical inspection with Near Infrared (NIR) technology, the system evaluates every individual berry in real time and automatically removes unwanted foreign material and selects fruit based on quality and ripeness parameters. Developed together with leading German research partners Fraunhofer IOSB and Geisenheim University, GrapeSort is the result of pioneering work in optical sorting.
Grapes are fed into the system, accelerated on a conveyor, and enter the sorting zone in free flight. This allows every single berry to be captured and inspected individually — with maximum precision and no blind spots.
At the heart of GrapeSort is a high-speed camera capturing up to 18,000 line scans per second. Each berry is analyzed based on predefined quality parameters — color, visual characteristics, and more — all adjustable via an intuitive touchscreen interface.
GrapeSort combines optical inspection with Near Infrared (NIR) technology to detect dried, damaged, or otherwise unsuitable berries that may not be distinguishable by color alone — ensuring a level of accuracy no manual process can match.
Unwanted berries, insects, leaves, and stems are reliably removed by 128 high-speed air valves while the fruit is still in free flight. Only the rejected material is ejected, ensuring that only sound, high-quality fruit continues through the process untouched.
