MACKINAW - The grapevine gossip ranges from video games to YouTube videos, anything and everything that grabs a typical high school boy's attention. As music blares from the radio, a group of teenagers talk a little about gaming and then Japanese anime and the Adult Swim TV programs. | VIDEO: Teens work the grapevine

They share jokes from now-deceased comedian Mitch Hedberg's Comedy Central specials. Quickly, they switch topics to imitations of actor Christopher Walken and other videos they saw on the YouTube Web site.

"We talk about random stuff," said Jacob Higdon, 18, of Mackinaw.

But there's a lot of work that gets done, too.

After school, a group of high schoolers work at Mackinaw Valley Vineyard, helping winemaker Paul Hahn harvest more than 20 varieties of grapes on 13 acres of land in Mackinaw. Hahn's wife, Diane Hahn, also helps with some picking work in addition to her behind-the-scenes bookwork and event scheduling duties.

In addition to his and his wife's four children, Hahn hires other youth to complete the time-consuming work of picking, crushing and pressing grapes to make wine. The help takes on an added importance this year as the harvest season was delayed from weather, and some grapes began to rot and fall off the vine, calling for a need for longer days and faster work, Hahn said.

Other growers in the state have had similar struggles with deteriorating fruit, said Hahn, also president of the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association.

Hahn still expects to produce more wine this season, 6,000 gallons compared to about 5,000 gallons in 2007. The increase may be the result of a few rows of younger grape plants that are more mature and therefore producing more this year, Hahn said. Sometimes, the quality of wine suffers in a wet year like this summer, though, he said.

"Production was pretty good this year," Hahn said. "We just don't know what quality is yet."

Ton of grapes makes 150 gallons of wine

With good production, workers have plenty of grapes to pick.

Hahn doesn't weigh his grapes like some growers, but the general rule of thumb is a ton of grapes makes 150 gallons of wine. That means pickers probably will harvest about 40 tons, or 80,000 pounds, of grapes in about a month at the Mackinaw vineyard.

"It's really easy work; it's just time consuming," Higdon said.

But the Mackinaw teens make the most of their time and enjoy the job that allows them to be outside and talk with friends.

"It's nicer than working a fast food job because you're out in the sun," said Arkadius Tearney, 17.

A big benefit of the job is hanging out with friends, said Will Smith, 16. But Smith, as well as some of the other teens, admits one struggle of the job is to stay focused on the work while talking.

Their pay schedule helps make sure the afternoon is not unbalanced with more play than work.

The workers earn $3 for every tub they fill, Hahn said. Tubs hold about 30 pounds of grapes, and Hahn estimates teens could fill three bins an hour if they work at a pretty good pace.

The wage rate per basket, instead of per hour, is an incentive to work faster, Tearney said. It also challenges them to see who can pick the most grapes in a day, Higdon said.

Thus the method of payment adds another element of fun to their day as the teens engage in friendly competition.

"I just got my third," Tearney called out before he moved on to the next grape bunch.

"It's you and me at the same pace," responded Paul Hahn's 17-year-old son, Eric Hahn, who also had just filled his third bin.

The secret to cutting grapes off their vine faster is to keep your set of shears snipping, said Cole Mitzefelt, 21, Diane Hahn's son. As soon as you cut off one bunch of grapes, look for the next one, Mitzefelt said. To demonstrate, he cut off a bunch of grapes, and as one hand dropped them into his tub, he already was cutting another bunch off.

Some bunches of grapes are hard to reach if they're behind some of the plant's green foliage, Higdon said. You also have to be careful not to crush the grapes as you snip them off the vine, he said.

"It's really sticky," Eric Hahn said.

"Your fingers get really purple," Higdon added.

Their fingers aren't the only body part that can turn colors during the day. Eat too many grapes, and your teeth become blue, Mitzefelt said.

The workers may not want to eat too many grapes since they're paid for what they collect, but someone is bound to get a little hungry and grab a taste every now and then, even Paul Hahn himself.

"You have to test your product. It's called quality control," Paul Hahn said with a smile.