Doing a wine harvest abroad is an amazing way to make some money, gain wine experience, life experience, travel, and live in another place. For me, not only has it been my key component of education for working with different grape varietals, but it has allowed me to experience living in a new country for many months. I have worked 10 wine harvests total, 8 in Italy, 1 in South Africa, 1 in New Zealand, and a few months in a cellar in Canada. Whether you are thinking of working with wine for the first time, or you’re a regular” hemisphere hopper”, getting through a wine harvest abroad is not always an easy task, but it sure is rewarding. 

Here, I outline some tips for working a successful wine harvest internationally from my experience. 

So, you are thinking of finding a harvest job abroad? Remember, to work a wine harvest you need dedication, the ability to work long hours with little sleep, and be a quick thinker and learner. However, don’t be (too) scared, I believe anyone can do it. I’ve worked with people who have been hemisphere hoppers for a decade, people who have never worked a harvest, some who have studied wine for years, never studied wine, or never had a job. With a good work ethic, I believe anyone can do it. 

How do you find a job? A lot of countries have a wine jobs website. Here are a few I have used: 

New Zealand: https://www.winejobsonline.com

Canada: https://www.winejobscanada.com

USA: https://www.winejobsusa.com

South Africa: https://www.careers24.com/jobs/lc-south-africa/kw-wine/

Australia: https://www.winejobsaustralia.com

Italy: https://winejob.it

Unless you have a background education in wine making, you will be looking for a cellar hand position. Cellar hands are the grunt work behind the wine, they do all of the tasks needed to make the wine itself, without making any of the decisions of its process. This can be anything in the cellar itself; some of the positions are tank cleaning, inoculation (starting the fermentations), dry goods, filtration, or pressing. Depending on size of the winery, there can be a red and white cellar hand teams as well.

As we know wineries can also be of any size, you can work for a massive winery on a team of hundreds, or a smaller winery with a handful of employees. It is most likely easier in your first few harvests to get a job at a larger winery to gain experience and if you like it narrow your focus to continue on to your specific size or style of winery. While the jobs all remain the same no matter what size, the experience feels completely different working with millions of litres to tens of thousands, so choose wisely. At a large scale winery you will most likely to be put on a team where you stay in your cellar “zone”; for example, on press you would stay with the presses for up to 8 weeks. At a smaller winery you are more likely to diversify your jobs and get to work on all stages of the wine making process. It is really a matter of personal preference and working style. 

Once you have your job secured, you will need the usual things when travelling or moving abroad such as a ticket, a visa, health insurance, a travel plan, and a place to live once you are there. Sometimes a place to live is arranged through the winery, but if not they give you suggestions of websites and areas to live in.

A key thing I wish someone told me before I went to my first cellar hand job abroad is what to wear! Bring work pants or shorts with pockets. I usually work in jeans, jean shorts, or cargo shorts, if I do not have pants with pockets I have a harvest fanny pack to keep my essentials. What are my essentials? A pen, a mini pad of paper to write work notes on, a small but powerful flashlight to look in tanks, a pocket knife to quickly open additions, a lip chap (personal necessity), and obviously we all need our cell phone on us. Have hand lotion at home, your hands get dry, trust me you’ll need it. Other things to wear are just comfortable and layering clothing: T-shirts, a flannel, a fleece sweater. A general rule, is harvest is during the beginning of fall where seasons are changing and you have to be prepared for all types of weather. You will most likely be required to wear steel toed boots. If you have a pair of workbooks, bring them, but I have also been supplied boots by some wineries and other times just bought a new pair there. Any extra or more specific things will be specified by the winery. In your bag going to work I would also suggest a change of clothing (at least socks and a shirt) because wet accidents are almost always bound to happen. 

No matter where you have decided to work, like any wine harvest, you will need to be mentally prepared. What should you expect? Long hours, a potentially unpredictable schedule, mental strength, and physical labour. Due to the fact harvest is short it is intense, the grapes need to come in when they choose, and they do not stop for humans to sleep. For this reason most wineries work in 12 hour shifts, and there is almost always a night shift. You must be able to work on little sleep, be physically strong enough for the labour, and to be flexible. Expect to work while tired, prepare to be exhausted. What gets you through is passion for something, whether it is the wine, the team atmosphere, loving hard work, or desire for it to be finished, some kind of passion must push you through this job. To be quite honest, the first two weeks are usually very hard for me to get used to irregular sleep and the long hours, and then you blink and two months have gone by and you can’t even remember when it stopped being hard and started being all you wanted to do.

A slight tale of caution from me would be to use your mornings/evenings and days off carefully. Usually you are not given any days off until a certain point in the harvest, and to be honest once you do get them you don’t usually want them. Use your down and rest time carefully for groceries and self care, they are precious and few and far between. 

Have I scared you off yet? I hope not. Making wine abroad has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. You will never feel a sense of satisfaction (or I won’t at least) compared to what it is like to finish a wine harvest abroad. It is a unique experience to build a sense of community with your co-workers so quickly. You will learn about yourself, learn about wine, learn about a new culture, all in a fast paced environment with like minded people. On top of the international wine making experience itself, I encourage you to take a week before hand to get to know the place, or at least the country, and then two weeks afterwards as your reward if you are able to to travel and get to do some of the fun wine tasting the country has to offer. Be careful, this work can be addictive! In a perfect world I would try to do 3 wine harvests a year, but I have only heard of a select well timed few be able to do so. 

I hope this motivates you to take the leap and try an international wine harvest. It is hard work, but working with wine is a beautiful experience, and travel and living abroad are just a bonus!