Story by Caleb Hampton ∞ Farm photos by Fred Greaves Washington, D.C., photos by Michelle Dondero/Sonoma County Winegrowers Vineyard workers take on new roles in Sonoma County
Growing up in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, José Martínez worked the cornfields with his family. But, he says, “there wasn’t really much work.” After marrying, Martínez and his wife came to California. He found jobs in construction yet struggled to afford more than a single room for his growing family. In 2010, Martínez got a job pruning grapevines at Dutton Ranch, a vineyard in Sonoma County, which soon became home. Unlike in most employment sectors, the job included accommodation in the ranch’s employee housing. He and his family have lived there ever since. “I like working in the vineyards,” he says, “especially harvesting the crop after all the work we do to take care of the vines, from planting to pruning and everything else.” Skilled workers Martínez’s dedication earned him promotions. He now works as a crew supervisor. In the weeks leading up to last year’s harvest, he moved along rows of vines, coaching a group of two dozen workers as they pulled leaves to expose the grapes to sunlight. “It’s a skilled job,” says Steve Dutton, owner of Dutton Ranch. “You have to understand the form of the grapevine, how you want its structure to be, pruning, suckering, leaf-pulling, all kinds of things.” Experienced vineyard workers such as Martínez enable Sonoma County to produce some of the world’s best cabernets, chardonnays and pinot noirs, which annually fetch around $8 billion in sales. The county’s wine sector also powers the local economy. About a quarter of all jobs in Sonoma County are in the winemaking and grape-growing sectors, bringing in more than $3 billion annually in wages, according to Sonoma County Vintners. Wine tourism generates an additional $1.2 billion each year.
“It’s very obvious to those of us who know the industry, who have been in this area for a long time, that the farmworkers are an incredibly important part—probably the most important part— of this equation,” says Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, who represents the region in Congress and started the Congressional Wine Caucus. New opportunities In 2022, to honor the workers and provide new opportunities, the Sonoma County Winegrowers founded the Fundación de la Voz de los Viñedos, or Voice of the Vineyards, a leadership academy for Sonoma County vineyard workers. The program is designed to give a cohort of employees leadership skills to become crew leaders as well as opportunities to participate in parts of the business beyond caring for the vines and harvesting grapes. “The academy is exposing the crew that does all the work in the field to more of the leadership and business aspects of running a company,” says Jim Pratt, owner of Cornerstone Certified Vineyard, who helped develop the academy. Those aspects include human relations, finance, client communications and regulatory compliance. “A lot of it is learning how to deal with winemakers and with the government,” Pratt says. The first leadership academy class included 15 workers. Last year, the program expanded to 20 participants, including three women, on par with the estimated 15% of California vineyard workers who are women. “When I started working in agriculture, there weren’t many opportunities for women,” says Anelly Reyes Jiménez, a 2022 academy participant and crew leader at Cornerstone. “Over the years, we started to see a little more support and more opportunities.”
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