Vineyard Harvest Yield Log Excel - Free Template

1. Open the Harvest Log sheet and enter each pick as a separate row. Use one line per block, crew and harvest date so the record stays easy to filter.
2. Fill in the block details, bin count, average bin weight and Brix. The sheet is laid out so your core field data sits together, which speeds up entry at the end of the day.
3. Check the weight and yield columns after each entry. If your formula cells are populated, you can see the gross and net numbers straight away instead of waiting until month-end.
4. Review the Summary Dashboard to compare blocks, varieties and season totals. Image 2 is the place to look when you want the quick story, not the row-by-row detail.
5. Use the notes field for anything that affects quality or timing, such as machine harvesting, hand-picking or fruit that was pressed the same day.
6. Refer to the Instructions sheet before your first season use, then keep the workbook as your running harvest record for the full 2026 vintage.

This workbook suits the people who are actually on the hook during harvest: the vineyard manager, the cellar door owner who also runs the back office, the contractor logging bins, and the bookkeeper trying to reconcile tonnage with invoices. A Marlborough block that yields 22.5 kg a bin across 42 bins is not just a number — it tells you whether the crew pace, ripeness and sorting decisions were right on the day.

For a small operation, the value is in speed and repeatability. If you are harvesting 6 blocks over 3 weeks, a consistent sheet stops you from relying on texts, whiteboard notes and memory when you are exhausted at 10 pm.

From block notes to one season record

Image 1 shows the Harvest Log with one row per pick. That gives you a clean way to compare Sauvignon Blanc in Block A against Pinot Noir in Block B without mixing the figures together.

Why the dashboard matters when the season gets busy

Image 2 shows the summary view, which is where you look when you want the pattern, not the detail. If one block sits at 18.0 t/ha and another lands at 12.4 t/ha, you can see the gap quickly and ask the right questions while the fruit is still coming in.

Harvest records sit inside normal business record-keeping, so keep them for 7 years as Inland Revenue expects. If your vineyard is GST-registered, the file also helps back up the figures that feed your GST return, especially where contractor costs, freight and harvesting charges need to match the season.

If you operate through a company with an NZBN, this log becomes part of the wider management record that supports your accounts, stock movements and seasonal analysis. For sole traders, it also helps when you complete your IR3 and need to understand how much of the season’s income came from each block or harvest run.

Why the numbers should be dated and specific

A line that says “good harvest” is useless later. A line that says 18/02/2026, Block B, 30 bins, 21.8 kg average, 23.5 kg gross, and hand-picked early morning gives you a proper audit trail you can use when you check fruit quality, costs and yield changes against the rest of the season.

Matching harvest data to business reporting

If you are also tracking payroll, the sheet can sit alongside your PAYE records and contractor invoices without confusion. That matters when you are balancing the season’s labour spend against the crop outcome, especially if one pick crew costs $3,600 for the week and the next block produces 1.8 tonnes more fruit because the timing was better.

That same season-by-season comparison is easier when the paperwork also captures a stock rearing log for feed, growth, and treatment details alongside the harvest figures.

The usual problem is not the fruit — it is the record. People skip Brix on the rushed days, write bin counts on paper, and then try to reconstruct the harvest later from three phone photos and someone’s memory of whether the trailer was half-full or full.

That gets expensive fast. If you miss 2 bins on a 42-bin pick at 20.5 kg each, you are already out by 41 kg before you even start looking at rejected fruit or press loss.

Bad weight records distort the yield story

When the gross weight is guessed instead of weighed, your yield per hectare can be off by a lot. A block recorded at 21.0 t/ha may actually be 19.6 t/ha, which can change pruning decisions, labour planning and how you talk to the grower about that block next year.

Messy notes cost time at month end

If your notes are scattered across WhatsApp, notebooks and spreadsheets, you spend hours chasing down what happened on 22/02/2026 rather than analysing the result. I have seen teams lose half a day just trying to separate pressed fruit from rejected fruit because nobody wrote it down in the same place.

Late entry makes the dashboard less useful

The dashboard only helps if the rows are current. If you leave four harvests unentered until the end of the week, the totals no longer help you decide whether to bring forward the next crew start or hold the fruit for another day.

The easiest way to keep this workbook alive is to tie it to something you already do. Enter the rows after the weigh-up or before the end-of-day call, not “when you get time”, because in harvest you rarely get spare time.

Once it becomes part of the daily rhythm, the file stops feeling like admin and starts acting like the season memory. If you are tracking 3 picks a week, that is only 12 rows a month, which is very manageable if you keep the habit tight.

Simple routines that stick

• Set one person as the data owner for the day so the numbers do not get duplicated.
• Use the same order every time: date, block, bins, weight, Brix, notes.
• Check the dashboard every Friday so you catch odd yields before the next pickup.
• Keep the workbook in the same place as the scales or receipting file, not buried on a desktop.

When a spreadsheet is no longer enough

If you are running multiple crews, several regions and live weight feeds, you may outgrow a spreadsheet and need proper vineyard or inventory software. For a small or mid-sized vineyard, though, this file is often the quickest way to stay on top of harvest data without paying for a system you barely use.

For the same reason, a supplier register becomes the next step when the operation starts tracking multiple crews, regions, and live inputs in one place.