Dan's Harvest Updates

Hand harvesting as an education

We all have our friends and family, our circle of acquaintances that we meet through business, school parents groups and so on. We read the same books and newspapers, watch the same TV and enjoy the same cafes and restaurants. We inhabit our own little worlds and forget, or never even learn, that there are many, many people out there whose lifestyle is so different that they could almost be living in another country.

We hand harvest a lot of our fruit, and this involves hiring and supervising teams of 20-40 pickers. The work is hot, sticky and hard. It is irregular and plagued by the weather and often requires long travel or months of itinerant living during the fruit picking season. It's a way of life that seems like something out of Steinbeck or Kerouac. The pickers range from school-leavers with no jobs and those who find it hard to hold down steady employment, to migrants struggling to make headway in their new home and retirees making an extra bit of money to bulk out their pensions. On most days something close to a quarter of the staff booked the night before do not make it to work and more still do not last the day. Problems with child care, health, motor cars, landlords, social services or the police all conspire to make life complicated. I'm sure that some find it all too tough and just stay at home.

On our side, we ensure that we do everything above-board. The pickers are paid by the hour at award rates. All their insurance is covered and appropriate safety equipment provided.

Without getting all pompous about the positive effects of hard work, a day in the vines seems to do everyone the world of good. Starting at dawn and working through to an hour or so after lunch, there is constant chit chat, back-chat and cheerful ribbing. There is also much swapping of stories and exploits, some tall, some true and some frankly hair-raising. Many of the pickers take a keen interest in the wine we are planning to make with the results of their work. I'm often asked about my thoughts on the quality of the fruit, what kind of wine it will make and how much it will cost.

As someone who spends their time in a somewhat cosseted bourgeois existence, fretting over the minutiae of my winemaking choices, I find any time spent in the vines with a picking crew is worthwhile.

See Also: Ask Dan