Napa vineyard worker dies after getting pulled into grape-picking machine 
 
 FILE PHOTO: Grapes hang from the vines in Napa, Calif. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. FILE PHOTO: Grapes hang from the vines in Napa, Calif. Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. Photo: Jessica Christian, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Jessica Christian, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Napa vineyard worker dies after getting pulled into grape-picking machine 1 / 1 Back to Gallery 
 
 A worker was killed Monday afternoon at a Napa vineyard after getting stuck in a grape harvesting machine. 
 
 The Napa man was working near the machine at Deconinck Vineyards when his clothing caught in it, pulling him in and killing him, according to Chet Schneider, a spokesman for the Napa County Sheriff’s Office. 
 
 He was pronounced dead at the scene. 
 
 The vineyard, which is part of Beaucanon Winery, has had no prior worker safety issues, according to a database run by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Cal/OSHA is investigating the incident. 
 
 Though worker deaths are rare in Wine Country, they are not unheard of. Last spring, a Fairfield man died when the tractor implement he was cleaning at a Sonoma Valley vineyard crushed him. He was found underneath the machinery at Arrowhead Vineyard. 
 
 The Sheriff’s Office could not confirm what type of grape harvesting machine the unidentified man was working near. Mechanical machines vary from the more basic type, which look like tractors, to expensive models that rapidly sort and de-stem the fruit. 
 
 And while there has been resistance to mechanical harvesting among high-end wineries, especially in Napa and Sonoma counties, which see hand-picked grapes as an essential component of their premium products, the machines are becoming more common. In 2017, about 80 percent of all California grapes were harvested by machine. 
 
 Deconinck Vineyards did not immediately respond to calls for comment. 
 
 San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Esther Mobley contributed to this report. 
 
 Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LizzieJohnsonnn ||||| NAPA (CBS SF) — A Napa vineyard worker was killed Monday in an accident involving a grape harvesting machine, authorities said. 
 
 Cal Fire responded to a report of a worker stuck in a grape-picking machine at Deconinck Vineyards off Monticello Road near the Silverado Trail, spokesman Bruce Land said. 
 
 The incident happened just after 12:30 p.m. Monday. The worker was identified by the Napa County Sheriff’s Office as 49-year-old Napa resident Leon Marcelo Lua. 
 
 Sheriff’s office spokesman Henry Wofford said first responders were at the scene within five minutes, and Lua was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m. 
 
 Lua’s family said he was on the ground working next to the machine when a piece of his clothing got caught in it and pulled him into the machine, killing him. 
 
 Cal OSHA said it was investigating the incident.
– A grim work-related death out of California's Wine Country, where a Napa man working at Beaucanon Winery's Deconinck Vineyards got pulled into a grape harvesting machine with fatal results. KTVU identifies the victim as Leon Marcelo Lua, 49. The San Francisco Chronicle reports his clothing got caught in the machine on Monday afternoon and he became stuck; CBS San Francisco reports he was working on the ground next to the machine at the time of the incident. About 80% of the state's grapes were harvested by machine last year, making the use of mechanical harvesting quite common. KTVU counts it as the fourth winery worker death in the region since 2016. (This workplace accident involved a wood chipper.)