I'm interested in spending a day harvesting grapes in Germany next year, hopefully somewhere on the Rhine. I'm looking for a typical grape harvesting timeframe (I assume it is late September/early October and where I might go to seek this volunteer opportunity. Thanks!

How good is your German?

If it isn't perfect, forget it.

If you were a farmer in Iowa or Sussex who spoke no other language, and some dude from Bulgaria came to you and somehow communicated he wanted to pick your crops, would you let him?

Remember,you'd have no way of telling him he was cutting the stem too short or too long, or that he shouldn't pull the grapevine up by the roots, or that he was being too rough on the vine branches, or that he was putting too many in the container.

You'd have to nursemaid the Bulgarian all day, when you had other work to do. And what would you get for it? Nada.

Wiesbaden Tourist Service markets packages which include grape picking, wine tasting and an afternoon snack (if I understand correctly - here is the address where I found the information):

http://pressetext.com/news/061013022...-die-besucher/

Their address is

Wiesbaden Tourist Service
Marktstr. 6
65183 Wiesbaden
Tel: 0611-1729-930
Email: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.wiesbaden.de

I would contact them and see if they can help you out, although you might need to hurry up as harvesting time is round about now. And I'm sure language needn't be a barrier - my American friend who lives in Wiesbaden and whose German is not particularly strong has helped out in grape picking in the past, although I don't know where she did this.

On a side note - the picking is more likely to be at a winery in the Rheingau than in Wiesbaden proper, although the city does have some vines. Lovely area, pretty city, and a nice base to explore the Rhine Valley.

Lavandula

Tomboy, I've picked grapes before...I suppose I should have said that.

Lavandula, thank you so much for your help. It is greatly appreciated!

Triptyme- you totally missed my point. Totally.

You might well be God's gift to oenology, but are you able to explain that fact with abundant clarity to a German farmer?

Your self confidence is well-developed, but your empathy (that's the attribute of sensing how another person might perceive something) needs work.

tomboy - a good many crops in western Europe are harvested by Bulgarians and other nationalities. They do not have any language other than their own, yet manage perfectly to do what is needed.

Hetsmij-you also missed my point. Totally.

No I understood your point entirely.

I was merely pointing out to you that your example is not a good one.

Triptyme has now received excellent advice from Lavendula, so let's leave it at that shall we?