Grape Picking in France

I can thoroughly recommend my experience picking grapes in France. This was something I did one year in my late teens on a break from university. I wanted to travel through France to visit a friend of mine whose parents had a summer home in the Dordogne.

When I arrived I really fell in love with the place and decided to stay for the summer months. However in order to be able to afford to do this I had to find a job. Doing this with only a slight grasp of the French language was always going to be difficult but then someone suggested grape picking.

It was September and the harvest was just about to begin. The work is only 'minimum wage' and it's true that it is hard work - particularly on your back. But you meet a good group of people and it's nice to be outdoors all day.

We had a really lovely mix of people on our team of grape pickers. There were French locals looking to supplement their incomes, there were overseas students like myself from a wide range of countries like the United States, United Kingdom and many other European cities. We all got along really well and as well as getting paid at the end of each week, were also given free meals each lunchtime. In France this isn�t just a sandwich and a Coke � it�s a full four course meal with starter, main course, cheese and dessert. Plus you always get a glass of red (from the vineyard of course!) and a fresh cup of coffee to round things off.

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Grape Picking in France

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Great fringe benefits
by: Francine Delorme

Sounds like a tasty job - with great benefits (like drinking some of that French wine). And if you get too tired there's nothing like a good glass of red to perk you up, right???

Grape picking this year
by: Peony

hi, thanks for your sharing. I am interested in it and i just plan to do grape picking in France in September this year. I would like to know if you can give me some tips where should I go and how can I get contact with the farm owners? Thanks a lot.

Where are you from?
by: Scribetrotter

Working picking grapes in France is possible wherever you're from. If you're an EU citizen, try one of these groups for jobs or more information:

Appellation Controlee

Overseas Job Centre

Gap Work

WWOOF France

However, hundreds of citizens of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to name just a few non-EU countries, find jobs in Burgundy, Bordeaux or Alsace each year by simply showing up. Vineyard owners often prefer to pay under the table - it costs them less.

If you speak any French at all you'll have a better chance of finding something - just travel to your region of choice and ask around the bars and cafes. Remember though - you'll be competing with plenty of illegal immigrants from other parts of the world.

Good luck!

grape picking in FRANCE
by: Anonymous

I picked grapes in the villages of France 35 years ago and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Although the work is hard you get an experience of the culture and what France and the vineyards are all about. I learned a lot about what the people of the villages of France are like. They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I also got to experience some of the best French country cooking.

Picking in 2010
by: Valerie

I would also like to pick Grapes in France this September so if there are any suggestions on how to get that set up please let me know :)

grape picking
by: jacky

I read in a caravan magazine that some places let you take your caravan to their site to work and wondered if anyone knew of somewhere like this. They were a group of caravaners that now met regularly... Help please! Thank you...

Caravans
by: Leyla

Hi Jacky, there are some places that do have caravan facilities, mostly in Australia.

You could try Pickingjobs, which lists this farm north of Melbourne where you can bring your own caravan. There's also Plunkett Orchards and RJ Cornish, to name just a few. There are many more, as staying in caravans is an option many farms support.

Your best bet is to choose the farm you'd like to work on, and write to them asking if you can bring your caravan. I suspect you'll get quite a few positive answers.

Grape Picking Leads Please!
by: T

I'm in France at present working with a friend in the Poitiers area. Work's just about to end. I would love to pick grapes this season. Any leads to vineyards ie email addresses or telephone numbers would be highly regarded. Thanks!