Another Harvest Advice Thread? Sheesh

My story: 28 year old former Poli Sci/Arabic guy from Philly trying to one day be a winemaker. I’ve done two harvest stints in Virginia and was a part-time cellar/vineyard hand at a winery in Maryland until this past weekend (they were cutting costs and looks like I was the first expendable item).

I could tell you how I love cool climate varietals and progressive winemakers but in the end I’m just trying to make it in this industry–working in wine bars will really make you want to talk to grapes instead of people.

The Good: As I mentioned I have a little experience. The place in MD I worked was a mom and pop type place so I did almost everything in the cellar and vineyard–racking, filtering, stirring/topping, SO2/PH adjustments, cleaning tanks/lugs/barrels, barrel conditioning, pruning, tying shoots, thinning shoots, pounding trellis posts, stringing wire, carrying 60 pound backpacks of round-up around, etc.

The Bad: I lack forklift experience, didn’t handle large equipment, and only did a few lab tests (free/total SO2, ML chromatography, brix-hydrometer). I live on the East Coast (DC, soon to be B-more). I’m thinking I would fly out to CA or OR and buy a cheap used car–I’m an expert in cheap used cars but if that’s a stupid idea please tell me. I would almost definitely need housing (broom closet is A-OK). I wouldn’t be able to start until about Aug 19/20 (right after my annual trip up to the Finger Lakes).

If it helps I’m not interested in latching onto a place post-harvest, I’d like to get my experience, contacts and get back East. So far I’ve been firing off resumes on winejobs and the UC Davis site, and pursuing the limited contacts I have. Any other thoughts or recommendations? Thanks in advance.

-Don

You may also want to check under Help Wanted on www.winerysite.com. Good luck.

I’m back! Got to work at Archery Summit last harvest, it was a fantastic learning experience/life adventure. This fall I’m looking to return–Willamette is again my first choice but I could definitely get down with some cool climate CA or even WA. Only catch is, once again, I’ll be looking for housing as part of the “internship”. Anyone know offhand of places that offer a room/shack for their interns? Thanks in advance.

I think Williams Selyem might do housing for interns.

What was it like to work at Archery Summit? I love their wines.

Archery was great. Great people, incredible facilities–I can drive a forklift up a hill with a load and identify a handful of different PN clones by sight now. They have had a bit of staff turnover recently but Chris is a real talented guy with an experimenter streak so they’ll be fine.

WS only guarantees housing for its International interns- that and they’ve likely already hired for the season. If you don’t mind living out in the middle of nowhere, I know that Flowers has an estate house. I believe that if you make that a note in applying, there are several places who will be able to work with you on housing. Best of luck!