Harvest Intern at Jost Vineyards at Devonian Coast Wineries Ltd.

Jost Vineyards is the largest and longest continuously operating winery in Nova Scotia. We process grapes from all over the province for our Jost Vineyards wines as well as our sister wineries, Gaspereau and Mercator Vineyards.

We are a large enough operation to expose a harvest intern to a large winery production but small enough allow an intern the opportunity to see an array of jobs.

We are seeking enthusiastic individuals that will work closely with our cellar team and report to our winemakers, Dave Beardsall and Gina Haverstock. Dave has over 30 years of experience as the winemaker at Jost Vineyards. Gina Haverstock is a CCOVI graduate and is the 2024 recipient of the Karl Kaiser Winemaker of the year award.

Position: Harvest Intern

Place: Jost Vineyards

Start Date: August/September through November/December, 2024

Reports to: Winemakers

Special Note: Ability to live in and/or commute to North Shore, Nova Scotia, required.

Qualifications

Individuals who are:

• Highly motivated and have a strong work ethic
• Able to multitask and can work well in a team.
• Motivated and passionate about making high quality wine.
• Able to perform physical-demanding work on a regular basis.
• Able to lift 50 lbs. and are able to work at heights.
• Willing to work long hours, including weekends, often>60 hours/week during harvest.
• 
  

Training in WHMIS, Confined Space and Forklift experience are all considered assets but are not mandatory; successful candidates will be trained.

Harvest tasks

• Work on the crush pad when grapes are received including helping to run the crusher/destemmer, grape hopper, must pump and juice pumps.
• Help fill, run and empty 2 x membrane presses (Bucher and Diemme).
• Clean grape bins, crush pad and all grape processing equipment on a regular basis
• Perform pump-overs/punch-downs, red fermentation tank dig outs and racking.
• Perform sugar and other additions to juice/wine
• Prepare yeast and inoculate juice
• Add nutrients to juice/fermenting tanks
• 
  

Individuals interested in this position are asked to email their resume with cover letter to our Head winemaker, Gina Haverstock: ginahaverstock@gmail.com