In late August, I flew out to Portland, Oregon, for two weeks, to visit my girlfriend, Izzi, and see her hometown. While there, we would do some sightseeing, and travel to the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington for a Dave Matthews Band concert.
Within the first few days, we ate dinner with her father, where I told him my career hopes. I said that I was hoping to begin a career in wine distribution. He said that he had a few friends that worked in the wine industry, and that he would contact them and see if they would be willing to meet me. One of them, named John, responded saying that he wasn't sure what he could do, but that he would be willing to get together if we had time. He told me he was busy all that week, but to call him the following week.
That weekend, Labor Day Weekend, we drove up to the Gorge for the concert. Therefore, I wouldn't be back in Portland until Monday night, and I was leaving to go back to Memphis on Wednesday. So, I asked if John could meet on Monday night or Tuesday during the day. Unfortunately, he was busy during those times.
I had begun to give up the idea of meeting with him in person, when something crazy happened. On Wednesday, when I got to the airport, the airline employees told me there was a problem with my ticket, and that the company had given up my seat. So, they put me on the next flight out, which would be the following morning, Thursday. When I got the news, I sent an e-mail to John, saying I had an extra day, and that I would love to meet that day if possible. He responded within an hour telling me to come in to his winery in the early afternoon.
When I got to the winery, John quickly showed me around, and asked what my interests were. I told him that I wanted to get into wine distribution, but that the field was difficult to get into. I explained to him the dilemma that every company wants previous experience related to wine, and that I did not have much. Then, I told him that I would love to work for a winery, if he had any friends that could use help during the work-intensive grape harvest. Every year, wineries work around the clock when grapes come in, preparing them for fermentation, watching over fermentation, and transferring the wine into barrels. During these times, wineries often pick up assistants and interns to help with the workload. John said he wasn't sure of anyone that needed help, but that he himself could actually use my help. He warned me that it would be hard and messy work, and that I would have to basically be on-call at any time over the course of a few weeks.
I was not bothered by the work schedule, or the messy manual labor that the job entailed. I was extremely excited to be able to experience and learn, first-hand, what goes in in the production of wine. THese jobs are not easy to find. Many people try to get into wine-making. In fact, some people in California will pay just to go and spend a day working for a winery during harvest.
This was the perfect cap to my trip, and makes me extremely excited to go back to Oregon to begin the priceless experience of making wine. I will leave you all with a picture of the most beautiful concert venue I have ever seen:
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