Entry-level Harvest Internships

Although it’s still early-ish, I’ve noticed that nearly 100% of harvest internship postings include something like “prior work in wine production, including at least one other harvest” as a requirement.

I understand that these pre-reqs are not necessarily set in stone, but I was wondering if any of the active producers in this community have advice for somebody who are considering whether to work a first harvest. In general, are producers willing to take on first-timers? If you are coming from an entirely different industry, say, for example, biotech, what are some skills or relevant experience you can develop in the meantime (e.g. books, resources, etc.) to add as much value to the team as possible from day one of harvest?

Asking for a friend of course! [snort.gif] Thank you!

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Producers might be more willing this year because Covid is scaring off a lot of interns. There are not enough to go around this year, so I would definitely apply.

Attitude is really key. I’ve hired several first-timers for internships, and if you present yourself as someone who really wants to learn you will very likely find a spot. It really helps if you’re fit and in good shape.

Having a background in biotech is a huge plus. Most wine lab methods are not difficult, and it would be a good way to transition in.

I worked my first harvest in 2019 at Williams Selyem. I had been a geologist for 10 years prior to that and had no wine industry experience. They took a chance on me, and I think we’d all say that the experience was a good one. I wasn’t the first total newbie they’ve taken on either.

I received a lot of helpful advice from this board when I was seeking out an internship and I’d encourage you to read that thread - there is a lot of good advice in it from industry people on here. Getting into the business: finding good harvest internships - Cellar Rats (ITB) - WineBerserkers

If you’d like to talk in a lot more detail I’d also be happy to - PM me if you like.

Max, it’s exciting to hear of your interest in joining a winery for a harvest internship. There are certainly wineries out there who will take folks on who have no experience. Don’t be shy about it, reach out to the wineries you are most interested in working harvest with. Every winemaker had their own first harvest, and a good number of us have no formal winemaking education. Most wineries will want to do some sort of training anyways so that work is done to their liking and protocol. You might have better luck with smaller producers.

As far as skills or knowledge to develop I don’t think there is much you can do now in the short term that will change a producers mind if they are set on hiring on folks with experience. Reading some basic winemaking texts and watching some videos will help to familiarize yourself with the process, terminology, etc. so you have a better understanding when it comes time for whatever process or task at the winery.

As other have mentioned, attitude and willingness to learn and adapt are key.

If you aren’t already aware you should look at the job postings on winebusiness.com

What area are you in?

Good luck!

Thank you all so much for these helpful replies - it is truly appreciated! I will follow-up individually with PMs.

Read this: https://www.amazon.com/Tips-Cellar-Rats-Mary-Baker/dp/0557423627/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=cellar+rats&qid=1614394167&s=books&sr=1-1

A lot of inexperienced people have been hired almost incidentally. Like, talking with a winemaker at a tasting, showing interest and insight. Look at their perspective. They get a lot of inquiries from people who are flaky or don’t have an idea what the job is like. Taking random inexperienced people has a poor batting average: No shows and people walking off the first day or after a few days. They don’t want to be scrambling for an extra hand during harvest. If you can show that won’t be you. That you’re up for working 20 days straight of 14+ hour days before your first day off, being cold, wet and sticky, worked to physical exhaustion. Well, then it’s more about finding an open spot, and hopefully at a place that’s a good fit for you.

I like interns with zero experience. No bad habits/bad training to work out of them. They’re more apt to be as detailed as possible to your tutelage/instructions as they really want to do the best job possible.

It doesn’t take much to take a person with zero experience and have them as good as one with a year under their belt.

Where does one sign up for internships?
Also, how long does the internship last, and do they provide boarding?

  1. By answering an ad, or contacting wineries directly. With the latter, you’re best knowing the winery well and what you’re looking for, so you aren’t seen as just another burdensome pest.

  2. Depends on the winery.

  3. Depends on the winery.

There are some older threads here worth reading.

The popular site for intern postings is www.winejobs.com.
Harvest gigs last on average 3 months if you’re at a decent size facility. Smaller places will probably be 2 months.
Housing is generally not provided. I’ve only heard of 2 places in Napa that used to provide housing. You’ll see a lot on craigslist offering rooms for rent to harvest interns or culinary interns here in Napa.

Welcome to exploring the internships of the wine industry! I jumped in over 10 years ago with zero experience (albeit I was going back to school for it) but was hired on BECAUSE I had a really good work background and was responsible. That quickly turned into full-time work and I’ve never looked back.

Most of the horror stories from the industry hiring new people are hiring people who had problematic work histories in the past or simply had no work experience or developed ethic. Having some sort of background which shows you can do hard work (I was in tech, not real physically demanding) or can use your brain will get you a leg up and will determine which direction a company may send you. I also had a history of doing endurance events and that came up as a reason why people were interested due to long harvest hours. As another example, a prior career in biotech, you might be someone they bring in to do vineyard sampling to start and then transition to basic lab work (we have one of those jobs open). The expectation there is you can use your brain and follow detailed instructions where there might be some variability and can quickly pick it up. At one place, we hired a lot of white water rafters with zero experience because we knew they could pull their weight when it came to the physical aspect.

Winejobs is definitely the resource. Each year, it’s impossible to find people at almost every company and it’s only getting worse. There just aren’t enough people willing to commit or we find people are surfing the ads and securing one to find the next higher paying job.

As one poster wrote, attitude is key. High energy, willingness to learn and maybe some research prior to the interview is always important.

Feel free to PM me and I can answer questions if you’d like.