Packing for Wine Harvest: A Crush-Ready Wardrobe Checklist
Working your first wine harvest can be exciting, exhilarating, and downright daunting.
Wearing appropriate clothing on day one is super important - both to ensure your safety and comfort while working in (literally) and around the winery equipment, and also to give you a small amount of street cred as a first-time vineyard hand.
If this is your first time checking out our site, check out the OG post on winery cellar wear here, otherwise keep reading for more details.
Also please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Either way, I only recommend products I genuinely use or believe in - this is a no BS zone.
Water-wicking clothing
Shirts, pants, socks, and yes, even gloves. Assume literally everything you wear will get soaked at least once during a shift and plan accordingly.
That means getting clothes that won’t absolutely suck when they get submerged - leave the cotton, rayon, and heavy wool behind and instead opt for materials that pull water (also sweat) away from the skin and allow for quick drying like these merino wool t-shirts, which as an extra bonus also keeps you warm even while its wet, or these polyester long sleeve shirts that are lightweight and will keep you as dry as you possibly can be after spraying out a tank.
Pro tip: Pack an extra set of clothes to take with you each day when you clock in, and be extra prepared by leaving a third set of clothes (and dry shoes!) in your car as a just in case.
Trust me, you will never regret being extra prepared in this category.
Sturdy, waterproof, comfortable shoes
All these words together might sound like a paradox and a half, but I’m here to advise that it is in fact possible to find shoes that encompass all of those characteristics and are appropriate for wear in a winery environment.
Blundstones like these are the shoes of choice for cellar workers and are known for their durability and comfort (after they are broken in sufficiently). You will find both men and women sporting this popular shoe and a few weeks into harvest you will wonder why you have never owned a pair of these bad boys before.
They are classic Chelsea boots that will save your feet during harvest season, can withstand all sorts of grape juice overflow situations and bentonite clay additions, and surprisingly, do not scratch easily in all of those scenarios and more. I still use my original pair of Blundies from my very first wine harvest to this day, but now exclusively for rainy days around town. They come in quite the variety of colors too - dark brown is arguably the most popular in the cellar but you can never go wrong with a solid black shoe either.
Some of the bigger wineries will require (see: recommend, but will give you the old “I told you so” if you break a toe and try to sue them) steel toe boots to satisfy their OSHA requirements. To meet those requirements, there’s one main style of Blundies that will fit the bill, but there’s also a whole slew of Redbacks to choose from, at a close second in popularity, which makes them worth considering.
You might also want to get a nice pair of insoles to give a little extra cushion if you are not used to working on your feet in 12-hour shifts. Something like these can go a long way to minimizing your miserability (yes, I realize this is not a word, but it should be!).
Work pants
When working a wine harvest, ‘work pants’ means something comfortable, that will protect you from the elements and sharp edges, that has lots of pockets for all the random bits and bobbles (flashlight, screwdriver, pH testing strips, etc.) you will inevitably be carrying around with you.
A lot of folks seemed super comfortable in their favorite semi-fitted jeans.
However, my recommendation is to find a good pair of hiking pants. These are meant to be comfortable in the elements (beating sun, torrential downpour), don’t tear easily (like when you’re brushing by some thorned bushes), and usually have good sized and extra(!) pockets (that can definitely hold an iPhone and then some). They are also usually a little stretchy, which, for me, is super important because I hate wearing a belt and honestly anything you can do to avoid extra things you can get stuck or hooked on when being strapped into a harness I found helpful.
Pants like these quick dry ones for women and these Carhartt cargo pants for men are a reasonable price and have all those aforementioned bells and whistles.
Fingerless gloves
For those that find themselves on the ever-exciting night shift, I cannot underscore enough how essential it is to have a pair of decent fingerless gloves.
When working a wine harvest there are a few truths to understand: You will get wet. You will get dirty. You might even be collecting bunches of grapes by hand that unceremoniously fell out of whatever basket they were supposed to be waiting in. The last thing you want is to feel that ice cold stabbing pain in your hands for hours as you wait for the sun to rise.
Gloves like these, without the thumb, are essential. Some fingerless gloves also have the flap attachment to close them up like proper mittens, but honestly, you’re not going to be sitting still long enough to ever use that attachment, and most likely it will just get in the way and be a soggy mess dangling from your knuckles that you will contemplate shearing off one day when you’ve had enough.
Hats
Do you really need more than one hat? If you’re working from day into night or vice versa, definitely.
If you’ve never lived in a wine region before, you might not know that most have a large diurnal range, meaning the temperature difference between day and night is quite large. This means it is very likely you will be working under the beating sun, sweating your ass off, during the day, and hustling around a chilly winery or freezing your bum off under the stars by night.
During the day, you’ll want something that protects you from the sun and helps you with that pesky hydration problem. Anything lightweight with a brim, like this bucket hat with vents, this sun hat, or even your favorite baseball cap can do the trick.
At night, beanies are where it’s at. You’ll want something warm, but not too warm, that won’t sop up the wet from whatever fun you’ve been having that day so far, and without any frills - last thing anyone wants is to find one of your adorable pom poms in the bottom of a barrel. Bonus points if your hat is thin enough to allow for a hood to be pulled over it if it’s extra cold out. Simple beanies like this merino wool (coming in for the W again!) one can be a life saver once you start to feel the wet-cold in your bones.
Good socks
Often underrated, a solid pair of cozy socks is essential to making sure you don’t absolutely hate your life at the end of a long shift of never sitting down.
I’d recommend merino wool (again) for socks since they are fluffy enough to give your feet the well-deserved support they need, tall enough to ensure your boots don’t rip apart your ankles while contorting yourself in all sort of odd positions, and a perfectly appropriate material for long wear in moist environments.
As you might expect… remember to bring extras with you into work! Dry socks make the long harvest nights much more manageable and even, dare I say, comfortable.
Post-work shoes
It’s common practice for folks to leave their harvest shift and head right to the bar, or a local park that (unofficially) allows open containers of booze, and crack open a cold one. You’ll definitely want non-wet, comfortable shoes for this experience.
Sticking with the theme of bringing extras of things with you into work… remember to bring an extra pair of shoes to leave in your car or your bag for after your shift ends! Anything you’re comfortable in will do. I personally opt for my Birkenstock sandals that have the dual purpose of making the arch of my foot happy while allowing my toes to be free and feel some air.
Note: You will probably look a little crazy if what you opt for post-work is a pair of heels, but hey, you do you, boo.
Actually good hand moisturizer
While not an article of clothing, bringing a very good moisturizer to apply to your hands post-harvest shift is a game changer for the long-term health of the skin on your hands.
There are so many things your hands will be into while working in a winery - some natural (e.g., grapes) and some not (e.g., chemical cleaners that require goggles and face masks for application). Yes, you will have the opportunity to wash off your hands with water while on-site, but trust when I say your hands will thank you if you give them a little love after.
Moisturizers like O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Cream I consider “actually good,” because let’s be honest, there are so many nice smelling but really actually not helpful hand lotions out there.
Whether you’re gearing up for your first wine harvest or already have a few under your belt, I hope this post helps in some small way to keep you a little more dry and a little more comfortable during the upcoming harvest season.
For the full list of all my recs, you can check out my list on Amazon. (It’s not going to have everything you need to pack, but it will give you a good start!)
Have questions? Want to learn more wine harvest work tips and general tidbits?
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