Will work for wine.

I am looking for any wine industry related internships for this summer. I am a bit new to this but LOVE learning everything I can. I frequent many wine tastings, read blogs, magazines, pretty much soaking in everything I can get my hands on. I am very fascinated with the culture and experiences in the wine business. Looking into ISG, WSET and other certs. I am interested in production and also tasting rooms. I live in SW Florida right now but absolutely willing to move anywhere. I am graduating with a Bachelors in Business in May and am ready to start working!

Please let me know if you can lead me into some sort of direction!

Send me a PM. I think I’m the only one here with a history of taking totally unqualified interns for the summer. How’s your Spanish and are you in good shape? Runner or hiker? My last intern was a runner and a crushed her in 4 hours her first day.

Thanks Paul, will do! I could sharpen up my spanish. I love hiking too. I used to be on my college crew team also.
I’ll send you my resume!

Elizabeth;

Pretty sad to get 75 views before a response! Most folks don’t like my end of the biz…the vineyard. Cold, wet, dirty, dusty, hot and lonely. Besides that lots of glamour and fame. Most young folks want to work in the winery or tasting rooms anyway. That’s okay, we’ll keep doing the heavy lifting, turn the fruit over to the superstars and let them be them.

Watch out for Paul, he might see how your trailer pulling skills are and send you on a crazy mission to pick up grapes!

Or, you could go to Europe and take on both vineyard and cellar work. These jobs are not mutually exclusive here and you are expected to do both. 90-95% of great wine is vineyard work. Do you speak a European language? (not always needed for a short stint, but recommended.) Harvest itself isn’t all that different wherever you go, but you can learn a lot more during the rest of the season -especially in winter and spring. The payoff for all of the hard work is priceless. But yeah, not for everyone.

Cheers,
Bill

Bill-- I have been trying to look for jobs in Europe, mainly Italy. I haven’t gotten any luck! That’s what lead me to the more reachable people in CA and OR. I would LOVE to go to Italy for an extent of time. Would you happen to know how I could reach those available vineyards?

Check Winejobs.com for entry-level jobs and harvest postions in the states. Once you land a beginning production job and network, you can head over to New Zealand or Australia and get 2 harvest under your belt in one year. Many, many cellar rats do this. All about networking.

At the retail level, you will meet suppliers from wineries who can then introduce you to their production team via direct contacts and see if they have any openings. Or make a trip out to CA or OR, visit wineries and let them know you’re interested in interning for harvest. Network, network, network. Good luck. It’s a crazy and volatile industry, but an incredible one at the same time.

pm sent

PM me if you’ve got any interest in doing some work in the Finger Lakes, many of the wineries there are small enough where they will take on someone and give you experience in both the winery and the vineyard. Good luck!

Yes, winejobs.com is the best for the US. There are similar sites for southern hemisphere harvest work.

For tasting rooms–as an ex-tasting room mgr–honestly, they get lots of apps from all over the country, but aren’t likely to hire from out-of-state. You would have to make the move first then show up in person with the same enthusiasm you show in your post. Most hiring is done Apr-June.

Good luck!

Brad-- Thank you! Working both sides would be amazing. PM sent.

Bob-- Are they really more willing to hire if you drop by? Or do I need to set up appointments first? I’m considering whether to take a trip to the west coast (I live in FL) for potential opportunities. I’m not having much luck with communicating from across the country.

Elizabeth- I’d bank your $ for the trip and save up so that you can move here without a job and be able to support yourself for 3mos unemployed or working part-time (less than 24 hrs a week) for $14 an hr. If you get a harvest job, save every nickel. You will be let go in Nov. and most likely unable to get another winery job until the S.hemisphere needs interns.

For non-harvest or pre-harvest work, most wineries will not consider anyone that does not already live here- Add in that you do not have experience and you will not get a 2nd glance. When people post jobs, they need them filled- Usually someone left or was let go and the winery can’t wait for someone to relocate.

If you do pop-in to a winery with a resume, do not do it during peak times (never on weekends), and never interrupt a tasting. Call in advance. Ask if the tasting room / winery manager is there, and that you are going to drop off a resume. Know a lot about the winery / the wines before you drop in. If you during your visit you taste anything, always spit.

If you want to gain experience at home- work fine dining. Find a place with a good Somm and learn everything you can. Floor experience is 10x more valuable than Somm certification. A tasting room job is service job 1st and a wine job 2nd.

Best of luck!

Appts are best. Just saying don’t expect to phone in an interview. Face-to-face is a requirement if you’ll be dealing with the public.
But drop-ins at some of the smaller places can work if your timing is right.

Erica,

From my experiences I would just go to the region you want to work in and wing it. I’ve worked in Portgual (Douro Valley) and Italy (Piedmont) for “straight cash homey” and it wasn’t difficult at all. From what I can gather, the warmer the region- the warmer the people are…the more laid back (and lazy too)… and the more willing people are to just pay you in cash (places like the Languedoc or SW France, anywhere in Portugal, most places in Italy.

It depends on what you are hoping to get out it… One of my favorite experiences related to this was when I worked a growing season (winter pruning 2010 through to harvest of 2011) in a biodynamic vineyard in Central Otago, NZ. If you are persistent and willing to work hard you should have no problems.

Sounds good Joseph, I think that’s what I’ll end up doing. I’m looking at WWOOFing for the summer to get a good feel of which country I’d like to stay for awhile. Picking between Italy and New Zealand. I don’t know Italian yet so might go with New Zealand!

Thanks for the tips everyone!