I’m sure every one of my readers who’s a winemaker or works at a winery will shake their heads in wonder, but I know a lot of people who fantasize about owning vineyards and harvesting grapes to make their own wine. Some of them even dream of “breaking in” to the wine industry by dropping their corporate job and beginning life at the bottom rung of the winemaking business. But what does that bottom rung actually look like?

Thanks to the masochism and keen observations of one of our local wine writers, W. Blake Gray, we now have an answer. Blake spent a day working both as a picker and as a cellar rat for Seghesio vineyards last month, and on Thursday he published a piece describing his experience. It’s well written and a lot of fun to read.

My favorite part is when, with his limited Spanish comprehension, he overhears his fellow veteran grape pickers explaining his presence as a bumbling newbie in the field to each other: “He’s a writer. He must need to pick grapes to earn some extra money.”

Check out the full story. Be sure to check out the lovely accompanying illustrations by Bill Russell.