HOW TO
MAKE WINE
Learn How To Make Wine
Go behind the scenes and help small and independent, low-intervention, natural winemakers prune, harvest and bottle. Learn first-hand how to make wine, naturally!
Short-term work on vineyards is not only possible, it’s an essential experience for wine lovers of any age. Below are a few ways to stain your hands and learn so much more than a class or book could teach you. Grow your knowledge and muscles while you support winemakers around the world. I guarantee you will gain a new appreciation for the incredible traditions and hardworking people behind every bottle.
Important Facts:
1. Some groups have annual membership fees ranging from approximately $20- $50. Well worth it in my opinion. You can usually view listings before becoming a member, but cannot see contact information or more details.
2. All volunteers are subject to the visa requirements specific to individual citizenship and the country in which you are looking to work.
3. Most opportunities mandate that you are at least 18 years old.
4. Opportunities typically require 3-8 hours of work per day for 4-6 days a week.
In their own words, “WWOOF enables people to stay and volunteer on a variety of organic properties. Volunteers (WWOOFers) help for 4-6 hours a day, and hosts provide the food and accommodation. This is a good way to experience, learn and share different ways of living.”
Each participating country has their own site and membership, listed here. I can personally recommend volunteering in Italy.
I’ve recently come across another great company dedicated to helping people explore their curiosities all over the world. GoAbroad has numerous programs to choose from ranging from your more standard study abroad program to internships and volunteering in any field you can think of. While I haven’t personally used them, I heard their founder on Andy Steves’ podcast and fully believe in his passion and mission.
The smallest and probably least known organization in the world of vineyard volunteering is HelpX. Since 2001, they’ve been pairing curious travelers with rural families and small businesses in need of agricultural, hospitality and childcare help across the world. What is most unique about HelpX is that they also offer a great companions section which acts as a message board to help connect like-minded volunteers who want to work and travel with others.
A lesser known but great way to find jobs on vineyards is through Workaway, a more broad multi-national organization dedicated to fostering cultural exchange on and off farms. They currently have opportunities with over 30k hosts in 155 countries. To narrow down your search, I recommend using terms like vineyard, wine and similar and then filtering by desired country.
Perhaps the most helpful feature of Workaway is the review section for each host. Like Tripadvisor, Airbnb, Yelp, etc., workers can leave reviews for places they’ve volunteered to help educate others on their experiences. In return, the places they’ve worked can also leave reviews for them. This separates Workaway from WWOOF, which has much more limited information on the hosts and no review functionality.
A closed facebook group for all those looking to offer or find wine employment. Request to join today!