Garden Creek Vineyards / Eric Wolfinger
How wineries can strive to support the immigrant vineyard workers that are instrumental in shaping exceptional California wine.
WORDS Henna Bakshi
During the Kincade Fire of 2019, Justin Miller, winemaker and owner of Garden Creek Vineyards in Alexander Valley, told his employees to evacuate and find shelter. The Gonzalez family, who has worked with Miller at his winery for multiple generations, refused. One family member lit a cigarette and put an arm around Miller instead. They said they weren’t going to leave without him—a pact the two had made since childhood.
The Gonzalez family has called Garden Creek Vineyards their home for three generations. Miller’s father, Jim, employed the first member of the Gonzalez family in 1964. He offered the family housing on the property and aided permanent residency status. The two families have worked together ever since.
Napa and Sonoma often struggle to find reliable farm workers, given the exorbitant cost of living there. According to cost-of-living data from the Economic Research Institute as of December 2024, the cost of living in Napa is 41-percent higher than the national average. It has the fifth-highest cost of labor among the 400 major metro areas in the country, with an average house price of $644,100.
Permanent vineyard workers and on-site residence, like at Garden Creek, are rare but can offer benefits for both the workers and the winemakers, like familiarity and expertise with the vines year after year, no need for yearly training, housing cost reduction and overall camaraderie over the final product.
Quintessa Vineyards / Mike Battey
In stories of high-quality wine, it is no longer simply just about the plant.
Miller and his wife Karin Wärnelius-Miller are vocal about the Gonzalez’s contributions to their high-quality Garden Creek Vineyards wines, which include a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend, and speak of brotherhood when discussing them.
“We’re very lucky to have them,” says Wärnelius-Miller. “It’s important to us to have the same hands on the vines. Beautiful wine is alive, and you can taste the passion. That is absolutely not achievable without all of us in it together.”
A TEMPORARY FORCE
Not all vineyards can afford a permanent workforce, especially when the work may fizzle out after harvest season.
“There is farm-worker housing on vineyard properties, but it’s generally an exception and not a rule,” says Steve McIntyre, owner of California-based applied agricultural company Monterey Pacific.
When long-term arrangements are not available, McIntyre brings on short-term farm workers from other countries through H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers visas. It’s no cakewalk, and the rules are stringent.
First, the company requesting the workers must advertise the positions to national workers. If the roles are not filled, the company can then request farm labor workforce through the H-2A visa program, which grants workers a temporary or seasonal contracted stay between four to eight months (the U.S. government allows up to a year), housing, food and transportation. Two forms of identification are required, and background checks are completed for each applicant.
McIntyre notes that the federal government establishes the pay depending on the region.
“In California, the employer pays $25 to $28 an hour to get the [temporary] employee,” says McIntyre. “The worker pockets $19.70 an hour pay,” which is about three bucks higher than the state’s current minimum wage of $16.50 an hour.
“It’s worth it. These people are here to work and are very productive; they do a great job.”
McIntyre adds that estimates show 40 percent of the farm labor in Salinas Valley are H-2A workers, and it’s 50 to 55 percent in Napa Valley. Benefits like retirement and healthcare are not offered, but if an employee gets injured, there is workers’ compensation.
Harvesting at Garden Creek Vineyards / Courtesy Garden Creek Ranch Vineyards & Winery
FULL-TIME GOALS
Some specialty, high-end vineyards that can afford a full-time workforce opt to do just that. Cliff Lede Vineyards in Napa, which spans more than 160 acres, has a crew of 14 full-time workers. Most of them average 10 years of employment with the company.
Cliff Lede Vineyards Director of Vineyard Operations Eric Gallegos / Courtesy Cliff Lede Vineyards
“They’re seeing the same vines and blocks from year to year,” says Eric Gallegos, director of vineyard operations at Cliff Lede Vineyards. “With a third party, you could get someone new every day who you have to train. With a full-time staff, there’s consistency in quality—these are skilled people who take pride in the work.”
With many immigrant workers on staff, Gallegos is no stranger to the experience. He is a third-generation farmer in Napa Valley. In the late 1940s, his grandfather emigrated from El Llano, Michoacan in Mexico and became one of the first post-prohibition winery employees at Beringer Vineyards.
“I get respect from my team because of my experience with my dad and uncles,” Gallegos says about understanding the migrant experience. “I was the first generation in my family to study viticulture. I’ve been working in vineyards since I was a kid.”
Gallegos adds that one member of his crew is taking English lessons twice a week, and the company is offering her paid time to do so.
A key consideration for employing full-time vineyard staff is the volume of work that needs to be done year-round, and not just at harvest. For an organic and biodynamic vineyard that spans more than 280 acres and 26 vineyard blocks like Quintessa in Rutherford, there is always something to do.
“There’s winterizing, putting down straw, planting the cover crop,” says Rebekah Wineburg, winemaker at Quintessa. “We have the same person doing the pruning, doing the suckering, trellising, sculpting the vine … it’s integral to have those same boots on the ground.”
Gallegos echoes these tasks, saying the Napa Green-certified Cliff Lede Vineyards has a lake to maintain and plenty of tasks in the winery the crew works on, like sanitation and punch-downs. All of this work happens at different times of the year: harvest in the fall, winterizing in, well, the winter, trellising and sculpting soon after, and pruning in the summer.
Quintessa Vineyard Manager Martin Galvan, who has worked with the Huneeus family for 30 years / Mike Battey
Quintessa vineyard team on the first day of the 2023 red grape harvest / Mike Battey
For wineries like Quintessa and Cliff Lede, having veteran crew members means having a well-oiled machine for a superior product. The vineyard workers are very much a part of the wine’s complete journey.
“Chris [Tynan, Cliff Lede Vineyards director of winemaking] tastes wines from each of the blocks with the crew,” says Gallegos. “It makes them feel and know they’re part of the team, part of the wine and the products we sell here.”
Wineburg says having a full-time crew that averages 14 years of employment means the company has made it a desirable place to work. All benefits like healthcare, retirement savings plans and paid time off are offered. If there’s anything she’s concerned about, it’s hoping that the next generation of crew members will also join the vineyard.
In stories of high-quality wine, it is no longer simply just about the plant. Every hand that touches it has a part to play, and winemakers are recognizing that biodiversity extends to their vineyard crew and their well-being. A sound wine will echo the working conditions it was made in, and investment must be made wherever possible to achieve those results.
“Quality is nothing without the place,” says Wärnelius-Miller. “And place is nothing without the people.”
This article was published in the Spring 2025 issue of Full Pour. Don’t own it? Pick one up today!