Napa Cellar Hand Night Shift Survival Guide

Working a 12-hour night shift in a wine cellar is bound to make anyone temporarily insane. I’ve been living the 7pm to 7am night shift life in Napa as a wine harvest intern for the last few weeks now and I have a few tidbits to share on how to make it to the other side with your wits in tact.

On actually getting an appropriate amount of sleep…

There are two schools of thought on this subject - either a) you go to bed ASAP after you get out of work so you can wake up ‘early’ and have some time to yourself before your shift starts at night, or b) you have those ‘to yourself’ hours in the morning just after your shift ends and instead you wake up at 6pm leaving you just enough time to shower before your next shift starts. Let’s be real here, both of those options suck. No one actually wants to sleep during the day, everyday. I’ve tried both and tbh have mixed opinions on this myself. Really, whatever works best for you, is what you should do. (Superrr helpful advice here, amirite?)

When you’re having trouble sleeping in the daytime, do some physical activity before bed.

Most people swear by working out in the morning because it energizes them. Honestly, I find that it usually exhausts the fuck out of me and I end up being more tired than I was before. When working a night shift where you absolutely need to go to bed by a certain time to be a semi-functioning adult, going for a run or taking a long bike ride is absolutely the move to push you past the brink of exhaustion and ensure you get a solid night’s (or day’s) sleep.

8am happy hour is perfectly acceptable.

Yes, I did say AM, as in during the morning, when most people are not even at work yet and some are still in the pajamas. And yes, even in a public park, while still in grape juice-moistened clothes, next to a picnic bench of tourists trying to enjoy their morning coffee and pastries from Bouchon Bakery; creating your own happy hour is perfectly acceptable. Because of Covid there are a serious lack of bars open in the Napa area (aka basically none at all), but fun fact - in Yountville drinking in parks is legally allowed, so let the alcoholic beverages flow! - also what bars would really be open at 8am on the regular during pre-pandemic times anyway?

Do you know what else is open at 8am? Bakeries.

You’re welcome. But also, I’m sorry I even put the thought in your head of a warm pastry after freezing your butt off on the press pad every night. Even those bougie bakeries you were told you have to visit because they have the best (albeit monstrous) english muffins and the ones owned by celebrity chefs that usually have a line wrapped around the corner because every tourist in the Napa area needs to visit (potentially because no one can afford and/or get a reservation at this man’s actual restaurants, but no judgment) are open by 8am during corona times.

When you have a single day off…

Try to get as much sleep as humanly possible. But also try and be a person for a least a hot minute. Go hang out with some friends, see other humans besides your coworkers, and actually try and enjoy the fact that you moved across the country to work a wine harvest so you damn well should enjoy yourself and actually see Napa. Maybe find yourself a bougie meal (remember to make a reservation on Open Table or Resy because it’s still corona-times and outdoor seating is limited), or a dope Mexican spot where you can just chill on a patio and drink margaritas, or your local taco truck and grab some tacos to go and enjoy in one of the aforementioned parks in Yountville along with your emergency stash of wine.

There are also two schools of thought on how to handle these 24 hours to yourself. Do you stick to your working hours and continue to wake up for 7pm and force yourself to stay awake until 7am the next day even though there’t nothing to do and no one to hang out with because it’s night time and everyone else in their right mind is asleep? Or do you cut yourself a break and assume that one day of a semi-regular sleep schedule will not fuck up all the progress you’ve made to date? On the former, note that results may vary depending on your level of exhaustion from the prior week, your commitment to the staying awake cause, and whether or not you messed up and ate a super heavy meal during normal person dinner hours.

Be ready to deal with people who are cranky af.

If you’re reading this and you’ve worked a night shift at some point and you’re thinking “I’ve never been cranky at work,” chances are this section applies to you. Switching your entire sleep schedule around makes even the happiest of people miserable. Being expected to learn new things and legitimately be able to absorb them in situations like this is a challenge. And being trapped in a facility with new people that you’ve never met before and are suddenly expected to work very closely with for 12 hours a day and go on breaks with and fix potential catastrophes with is bound to fray anyone’s nerves. If you realize this up front, and realize that you too fall into this category, everyone will be better off.

Deciding which meals to eat when is a real dilemma.

I went a few days before I realized I was eating only one real meal a day - lunch, at midnight. By the time I would get to my home away from home at 8am I was starving and ready to eat dinner, right before bedtime, which did not seem ideal. I decided a change had to be made. I now eat a regular breakfast - usually some sugar-light cereal like Peanut Butter Puffins (if you know, you know) or oatmeal with blueberries at 6pm right before my shift starts to keep me energized and full (read: not hangry) until lunch break. Post-work I have a snack that is just enough so I’m not starving as I try and sleep and so that I can still go for a run if for whatever reason my brain will not turn off at during daylight bedtime without vomiting.

And finally, get ready to see the most awesome sunrises and sunsets, every damn day.

This might be the best perk to working a 12-hour night shift. When else are you going to be awake (and fully functional) for each and every sunrise and sunset for an entire month or more?

Note: I have not actually made it to the other side of this harvest experience yet, but I definitely think I’m getting the hang of this night shift thing…

Happy Harvesting!

PS - Unsure of what to wear to work in a wine cellar? Check out these tips in my other post here!