Wine Jobs: Harvest & Vineyard Management

Ask any winemaker the secret to making a fine wine and they’ll tell you the same thing: Wine happens in the vineyard. Manipulation and technology in the cellar can only do so much to improve a wine if the planting and maintenance of the vines are not tended to properly. In many ways, it is vineyard managers, like Jim Barbour of Cakebread Cellars and Mary Hall Maher of Harlan Estates, who are the true stars on the wine scene.

Those who have a green thumb and feel more comfortable out of the limelight and among the vines and soil will do well as vineyard managers. They study in the same lucrative programs around the country – from UC Davis in California to Cornell University in New York – that their winemaking counterparts do. They just spend their time outdoors tending to the health and development of the grapes and overseeing that crew and equipment are where they need to be. Vineyard management is challenging because there are so many variables: Each property is different. The weather changes weekly if not daily. And the winemaker may want to uproot existing vines in favor of a new or up-and-coming grape variety. You must be his or her advisor.

Regular gigs working harvest, which occurs when the grapes reach maturity and are ready to be picked (in the United States, harvest is late summer or early fall) is the best preparation for a future vineyard manager. Working harvests abroad, in Old World regions such as France or Italy, is also a valuable lesson in simple, sustainable farming in countries that have been growing grapes and making wine for centuries.