This marks my first season of being a harvest widow. Three years ago, when we left California for Dave to start his enology studies at Oregon State University, I never really processed what it would mean for me to be married to a winemaker and to be living away from any extended family. I had never heard the term “harvest widow” until Dave referred to winemaker wives as such.
The hours during harvest in the wine industry are grueling to say the least. When the grapes are ready to harvest, this signals the start of 10-12 hour work days with maybe one day off a week. This is Dave’s fourth harvest experience, but his first living apart from his pregnant wife and two children. His first two were in Temecula, last year was at Benton Lane Winery in Monroe as a cellar intern, and this year as a vineyard and cellar intern living at Stoller Family Estate in Dundee Hills.
This article called “Living Grunt Life” from Sonoma Magazine put it best:
“Meet the warm body otherwise known as the Harvest Intern: That wide-eyed, gullible lackey enslaved by dreams of one day becoming a winemaker, supported by a measly $15 an hour and somehow still alive come November.”
If your spouse is looking to enter the wine industry, heed these warnings:
- From August to November, consider your spouse MIA.
- Look forward to delaying any birthday or anniversary celebrations.
- If you have kids, you are on your own figuring out rides and finding childcare for sick days.
Personally, for our family, this means our wedding anniversary will always fall during the harvest. It also means he won’t be around for the start of the school year and pretty much unavailable until Thanksgiving. As a mom and nurse practitioner, I also know what that means during the flu season. I will be scrambling for childcare when the kids are sick.
All of this is really hitting home this year, since he’s living away from us and I honestly don’t know when I will see him next. A nice rite of passage!
Of course, there are many perks as well:
- An unlimited supply of wine
- A kickass end of harvest party
- A promised family vacation at the end of harvest (I’m holding you to this one, Dave)
There is an incredible energy associated with harvest. I can see it in his face waiting for the text message that the first grapes of the season, Chardonnay, are being harvested. The grueling hours make for a close-knit winemaking team and anticipation of the vintage being bottled. All the blood, sweat, and tears poured into the vineyard are reaped into a bottle. This is the first year that his hands have touched the grapes pre and post-bottling, working in both the vineyard and cellar.
Cheers to the 2017 vintage, cheers to the harvest teams, and cheers to all you harvest widows! I like to think we play a large role as well in making these vintages happen.
