This past weekend was our 10 year wedding anniversary, so the girls and I packed our bags to visit Dave at the winery. It’s one thing to see Dave post instagram pics of his internship adventures, but witnessing firsthand is so refreshing. Someone seriously needs to produce a reality show about the life of a winery intern.
On Thursday night around 8pm, I drove up to the production facility where they were still working late into the night. Forklifts moving empty bins, the destemmer running full steam, the ground slippery from grape juice. The cellar interns started the day at 8am. If it’s a picking day, Dave starts his day at 6:30am in the vineyard then heads to the cellar at 8:30am. When harvest is in full swing, interns log anywhere from 70-90 hours a week.
Every night Dave and I chat before I put the girls to sleep, and most of the time, the interns from different wineries will gather at a select intern house to share a meal, have a drink, and swap stories. This week was a crazy work week though because the forecast projected rain over the weekend, so they harvested 200 tons in a day. When they got back around 10pm on Thursday night, they basically crashed. If this type of thing still sounds enticing to you, keep reading.
Dave’s three Stoller intern housemates are all internationals from Italy or France. On Friday night, I got a chance to meet some other interns from different wineries in the Willamette Valley.
What brings winery interns to Oregon? So far what I’ve gathered:
- Local Oregon enology/viticulture students starting out in the industry
- International enology/viticulture internships (an opportunity to learn English and experience an American harvest)
- Sommeliers and food/beverage industry people wanting to experience harvest firsthand and gather knowledge that might be useful in their current profession
How to find a winery internship in Oregon?
- Oregon Wine Research Institute (OWRI) – A collaboration between Oregon State University, the Oregon Wine Industry, and other academic partners.
- WineJobs.com – The Wine Industry’s Leading Online Job site
- VenJobs – UC Davis’ Viticulture and Enology Employment bulletin board
- Inquire at specific wineries that you’re interested working at (email, call)
- Networking, connections – get out, have a drink with people who are in the industry to get leads on current openings.
Start the search early. If you’re looking for a harvest internship position, start the search around April or May. This is about the time that wineries will start posting vineyard and gradually cellar positions.
Dave landed his current vineyard/cellar position after applying to over 10 wineries, interviewing for a few, and finally deciding on one that suited his desire to get both the vineyard and cellar experience. He heard about this specific internship by word of mouth initially, then saw a posting on OWRI.
If you’re desiring a romantic experience of working at a winery or an easy buck, this is NOT the job for you. You likely will not survive past the first week. It requires long, grueling hours of manual labor – something that is difficult to endure without a true interest in the science behind winemaking.
If you’re an oregon winery intern, comment below about how you landed your internship.
