This has been a Bucket List week. Saturday I arose at 5 am to pick grapes. It was a small block, so it didn't take long to finish. I was added to a crew that has been picking for a few weeks. In the Northern California wine regions the norm is to pick the grapes when it is cool to aid in the winemaking. Midnight and 1:00 am start times are common, or just after sundown. Either floodlights or head lamps are used to illuminate the grapevines. The crew I worked with started later because the one acre of grapes wouldn't take long.
I've been wanting to help in the harvest for years, but work and life has intruded. This year things worked out, though my time of work was short. We were done in about an hour and a half. The crew was happy as they were coming off of a 13 hour pick a few days earlier. A short Saturday for them meant some rest and family time. I was able to spend time with my family for the rest of the weekend also.
What struck me as I picked is the immense amount of physical labor that is needed to produce this product, wine. Just like most of our food, it is a billion dollar industry that must have people doing manual labor to be able to make the products we eat and drink. No labor, no food.
And we still can't find a way to make the immigration and guest worker system work?
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