Pack your bags and make your way to a vineyard for a chance to be part of the great English wine making scene.
Your vineyard needs you!
The time is fast approaching when the vineyards of Sussex and Kent need help with the harvest. At almost all of our local vineyards, picking is done by hand over the course of a week or three in late September or early October depending on the weather and grapes. So how do you fancy becoming part of a team, getting out in the autumn sunshine, mastering new skills and learning more about wine production in the UK? All as part of a grape harvest team and competitively paid.
What’s it like as an experience?
There’s a very unique atmosphere at harvest time in our vineyards. It’s a crucial time and the vineyards will be bustling with activity to make sure all the grapes are picked in time. For the pickers, it’s a sensual, educational and fun experience during which phones are forgotten, and friendships are forged. The snip, snip, snip of secateurs and the gentle plop of ripe fruit falling into a bucket are often described as therapeutic, especially with the sun on your back and the knowledge that you’re contributing to something rather special.
If the vineyard has their own winery, they will be crushing the grapes and preparing them for fermentation or, they may be transporting the grapes to the nearest wine making facilities. But in the vines, you get to enjoy the best of the autumn as the vine leaves are just starting to turn golden, and the vineyards are full of friendly chatter.
Every vineyard is slightly different but many of them include a range of benefits including exclusive vineyard tours, celebratory lunches, discounted wine, branded caps, and tasting experiences. It’s a fabulous opportunity to be part of a working vineyard and learn more about the challenges, skills and love that goes into making English wine.
Who is it this suitable for?
Anyone with a sense of adventure (and maybe an interest in wine too) can apply. In addition, you need to be reasonably fit, 100% reliable and able to get to and from the location. Although there is a skill in the way to harvest grapes, you’ll be taught all you need to know before you start.
How does it work?
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll work as part of a team in the vines, systematically working your way through each vine picking the grapes. You can apply for the position grape picker or bucket runner (emptying buckets full of grapes into the larger container and supplying fresh buckets to the pickers).
Where will I be based?
There are a number of vineyards spread across West and East Sussex, and Kent now looking for grape pickers.
Experience the buzz of vineyard life. Please get in touch now to find your nearest vineyard or to apply: Recruitment South East
