Advice to an Intern: 10 things Winemakers want you to know

The other day I got an email from a reader who was about to embark on her first harvest as a winemaking intern. She wondered if I had any tips or advice for her. She had a good pair of boots but what else would she need? What should she be worried about or watch out for?

I had my own list but in order to really “get the goods” decided to do a little crowd-sourcing for this gal who was interested enough to contact me. I pointed the Bat-Signal into the Facebook universe and in return received a quickly-growing thread of “advice to an intern” from fellow winemakers.

Do we have advice for her? Do we ever. The wine industry has a grand tradition of taking the up-and-coming generation under our wings and besides getting them wet and tired, perhaps teaching them a few things along the way. It was hard to whittle the list down to 10 in order to keep this post manageable and I can see this one being the first of many.

One of my best Pinot Noir mentors, the late great Don Blackburn, had a sign on his office door that read “Winemaking Begins With People.” It’s a mantra that rings as true for me today as the day I first read it while walking into a job interview. He was a tough taskmaster and required prompt start times, spotless buckets and shining pruning shears from the intern team (yes, I got the job) but we had a great time and learned a lot too.

Without further ado, here are 10 bits of “advice to an intern,” direct from Winemakers who’ve been there:

Glenn Alexander, Sanglier Cellars:

“Get the best, most comfortable pair of waterproof boots you can afford.”

Tom Collins, UC Davis Department of Viticulture & Enology:

“Always have a change of clothing in your car because cold and wet is a hard way to drive home.”

Brooke Langelius, St. Supery:

“Bring lots of food for backup on long days!”

Marty Johnson, Eaton Hill Winery and Ruby Magdalena Vineyards:

“Beer. Bring lots and lots of beer for sharing with everyone after cleanup. We all know it takes a lot of good beer to make wine.”

Ed Kurtzman, August West Wines, Freeman Winery:

“Don’t make outside plans during Harvest that you can’t get out of.”

Amy J. Butler, Ranchero Cellars:

“Ask questions! The sorting table is a good place to entrap your Winemaker into teaching you stuff.”

Elizabeth Vianna, Chimney Rock Winery:

“Get to know the cellar crew. They can be some of the best teachers.”

Chris Kajani, Saintsbury Winery:

“Be early. And preferably not hung over.”

Cynthia Cosco, Passaggio Wines:

“Learn lots…have fun…make connections….safety first!”

Domenica Totty, Beaulieu Vineyard:

Alison Crowe is a winemaker based in Napa, California and fondly remembers her first harvests as an intern at Chalone Vineyard and Byington Winery & Vineyard. She makes wine at Garnet Vineyards and can be reached at ancrowe@hotmail.com and on Twitter: @alisoncrowewine . She wishes the best of luck to all the new harvest interns out there- it’s a wild ride but welcome aboard!