The real heroes are the firefighters and other first responders, but ...
Great wine starts in the vineyard according to most winemakers. It's not the winemaker doing the work in the vineyard and often they don't even oversee the vineyard management. There are whole crews of mostly immigrant Hispanics toiling away to make sure you get great wine.
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| Smoke-filled air, pandemic. All in a day's work in southern Oregon image from statesmanjournal.com |
This labor force also picks the grapes when it's time and 2020 in many parts of the West was a helluva year to be out in the vineyards. Because of the wildfires from Washington to Oregon to California an unhealthy haze of smoke particles hung in the sky for several weeks. Air quality from southern Oregon to northern California often was listed as unhealthy or very unhealthy meaning limit any outdoor time.
For many workers this is their big chance to earn decent money. Do they work or do they pass for health reasons? I expect many had to have the income although sometimes they weren't allowed out because the air was so bad.
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