Grape Harvest

Trip Start Jun 23, 2008
1
22
25
Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of France  , Rhône-Alpes,
Sunday, September 28, 2008

Not speaking a lot of French it's hard to find a good job. Sophie and I managed to get a job harvesting grapes at a winery in Albertville.

Harvesting Grapes in the French Alps. Sounds romantic doesn't it?

It's not.

The first thing I should say is: A lot of the grapes are mouldy. I saw another harvester knocking some of the mouldy ones off so I did the same. I was later told not to waste too much time doing that. Just knock off the big chunks. 50% of the grapes are mouldy but they still go in with the rest. Honestly, with the process that they go through after being picked, it may not even matter that they were half mouldy to begin with.

It was freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon. The vineyard was all uphill. We were constantly walking at a 45 degree angle. Grapes don't grow at shoulder level. They grow at knee level. and then droop. You kneel down, cut some grapes, and then you can either crawl along the ground, or stand a little and hobble along. Then you do that all day uphill.

All the rotten grapes ooze all over your hands. There is a lot of sugar in grapes. Your hands end up encrusted in dirt. By 9:30.

They give you lunch though. Then we found out that they were deducting it from our pay. Suddenly the low quality seemed worse

We only stayed three days.

Here are some photos.
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