French Culture, Inside the Magazine, Inspiration

A Day in the Vines for the French Wine Harvest

Photo by © Intuive for Château de Pommard featured in the September/October 2026 issue

Ever wonder what a day in the French wine harvest looks like?

September 4, 2026

For the September/October 2026 magazine, our staff writer Olivia Hoffman takes us through a day of les vendanges (the wine harvest).

Roosters sound the alarm at dawn. Sweaters and jackets are layered to combat the morning chill. A small, hearty breakfast provides fuel for the work ahead. Drawstring bags are packed with the essentials: water, gloves and pruning shears…

Here’s how a day in the life of a harvest worker typically goes:

Photo by © Château de Pommard

Harvest Season

Every September, vineyards all around France gather teams of dedicated seasonal workers to head out into the fields, filling basket after basket with ripe grapes clipped from heavy vines. I have had the pleasure of working les vendanges (the annual grape harvest) for two different winemakers, and it’s given me a far greater appreciation for every sip of French wine.

As organic and biodynamic wineries, both family-run domaines take great pride in their agricultural work and expect the vendangeurs (harvest workers) to treat the land and fruit with the same respect.

Left: Domaine des Deux Clés | Right: Champagne Dominique Bliard-Labeste
© Olivia Hoffman

Early Morning Start

We all arrive promptly at 7 a.m. and carpool to the vineyard, where the sun spills over the vines in a spectacular display. The morning is spent carefully inspecting each cluster of grapes, snipping it from the vine and gently placing it into a basket. Once the baskets are full, the grapes are transferred to crates, loaded into a truck and taken straight to the cellar for pressing.

Sunrise in Corbières vineyard © Olivia Hoffman

Lunch and a Sieste

By the time the sun reaches its highest point, it’s finally time for a lunch break, allowing us to rest, refuel and cool down.

At this point, every extra layer of clothing has been shed, sun-kissed skin now glistening in the heat. Hands sticky with dried grape juice are rinsed at the water jug before we gather around makeshift tables fashioned from overturned baskets to share a meal that was prepared the night before.

After eating, we take a moment to lay across the crates and close our eyes before the afternoon of work ahead under the beating sun.

Photo by © Château de Pommard

Afternoon Shift

After the brief sieste, the empty crates return from the winery, ready to be refilled with the afternoon’s harvest. Everyone moves a little more slowly as the heat intensifies, but spirits stay high thanks to a portable speaker that follows us from row to row, playing an upbeat soundtrack.

Once the baskets are full again, we head back to the winery together to unload the grapes and hose down the bins in preparation for the next day’s picking, while the freshly pressed juice begins its transformation into liquid gold.

Domaine des Deux Clés © Olivia Hoffman

Evening Win(e)d Down

To celebrate the end of a hard day’s work, the evening unfolds not with a glass of wine, but with a crisp, refreshing beer and a cool, much-needed shower.

We finish with a nourishing dinner prepared together at a long family table before retreating to our rooms for a well-earned slumber. When the roosters crow, we rise and do it all over again.