A Napa wine grape producer is appealing $37,650 in state fines stemming from the death of one of its workers during harvest in October, a local business newspaper is reporting.

De Coninck Vineyards was cited by the California Department of Industry Relations' Division of Occupational Safety and Health for failing to enforce safety rules or to regularly inspect equipment, according to the North Bay Business Journal.

The penalties were issued in April after 24-year company veteran Leon Marcelo, 49, got his sweatshirt caught around an unguarded, revolving control shaft on a harvester after having worked about 10 hours that day, the Journal reports. The worker signaled for help but later died.

The vintner's petition to the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board will be considered as soon as CalOSHA's investigators complete their work, department spokesman Lucas Brown told the newspaper.