Comments on: My kind of school spirit: Chateau Palmer http://www.drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/ wine talk that goes down easy Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:57:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Morgan Twain-Peterson http://www.drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/#comment-46198 Morgan Twain-Peterson Sat, 15 Dec 2007 21:14:31 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/#comment-46198 Palmer, like other chateaux in Bordeaux who can afford hand-picking, does not have the regular labor pool we are accustomed to in California. Thus, they look elsewhere for labor. Since the top classed growths typically bring in 100-150 pickers every vintage, provide them with housing (or at least a campground), and lunch for days that they are working, this can be quite the issue. The majority of harvest pickers are either young people who have finished their pre-university schooling and are getting some "real world" travel experience, are high school students (several chateau look to countries like Denmark, Belgium, other parts of France, etc), or are from economically less developed part of Europe. For many years now Portugal has provided a great number of workers. The work is hard, though not as difficult as hand-picking in California as the pace is slower and the pay is done by the hour and not by either amount or acreage picked. But remember that most chateaux have planting densities of close to 3500 vines/acre, much greater than average in the states, and the vines are wee-little things. oompa-loompa's would be better pickers than humans as they are generally just over a foot off the ground. As to what they drink for lunch...well, most workers do not care for wine (and this goes for a lot of workers in the chaix as well), so it might surprise you how much beer, and rum and coke, is actually consumed. And these are probably better than the piquette (a wine made by adding water to the post-pressing marc and refermenting it) given to workers for much of the last few centuries. Palmer, like other chateaux in Bordeaux who can afford hand-picking, does not have the regular labor pool we are accustomed to in California. Thus, they look elsewhere for labor. Since the top classed growths typically bring in 100-150 pickers every vintage, provide them with housing (or at least a campground), and lunch for days that they are working, this can be quite the issue. The majority of harvest pickers are either young people who have finished their pre-university schooling and are getting some “real world” travel experience, are high school students (several chateau look to countries like Denmark, Belgium, other parts of France, etc), or are from economically less developed part of Europe. For many years now Portugal has provided a great number of workers.

The work is hard, though not as difficult as hand-picking in California as the pace is slower and the pay is done by the hour and not by either amount or acreage picked. But remember that most chateaux have planting densities of close to 3500 vines/acre, much greater than average in the states, and the vines are wee-little things. oompa-loompa’s would be better pickers than humans as they are generally just over a foot off the ground.

As to what they drink for lunch…well, most workers do not care for wine (and this goes for a lot of workers in the chaix as well), so it might surprise you how much beer, and rum and coke, is actually consumed. And these are probably better than the piquette (a wine made by adding water to the post-pressing marc and refermenting it) given to workers for much of the last few centuries.

]]> By: Dr. Vino http://www.drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/#comment-37089 Dr. Vino Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:44:09 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/#comment-37089 Hi Michael, I dunno! Maybe click through to their blog, search for contact, and attach a resume? Let us know how it goes! Hi Michael,

I dunno! Maybe click through to their blog, search for contact, and attach a resume? Let us know how it goes!

]]> By: Michael http://www.drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/#comment-36789 Michael Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:44:23 +0000 http://drvino.com/2007/11/19/my-kind-of-school-spirit-chateau-palmer/#comment-36789 How can I get one of these internships as a UC Davis Student? How can I get one of these internships as a UC Davis Student?

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