No Winter Sleep – Christmas Elves and Vineyard Teams Working Non-Stop

It's commonly believed that once the grapes are harvested, things go quiet in the vineyard. This was indeed the case in previous generations of winemakers. However, for wineries that primarily sell their wines directly to consumers or through trade, the "elf team" (those handling sales and shipping) is in full swing during the pre-Christmas season. Some wineries generate almost half of their annual revenue in the months of November and December.

At the same time, work must begin in the vineyard with pruning the vines. This is still the most time-consuming manual task in the vineyard, and the businesses have grown so large that the pruning, traditionally done between January and March, can no longer be completed within this window. Although there is now some labor-saving technology available, such as electric shears or machine pre-cutters, these are more for health and safety than for significantly speeding up the work.