Sonoma County vineyard workers compete in revived pruning contest with more female entrants

The best of the best of local vineyard workers gathered Wednesday morning to compete for the top prize in a revived pruning competition that values a prized skill and spotlights the speed and precision of field hands in Sonoma County’s signature industry.

Elizabeth Ruiz was one of the handful of women among the 30 contestants assembled at the Emeritus Vineyards in Sebastopol for the Richard Kunde Sonoma County Pruning Championship, brought back after a pandemic-era hiatus in the past few years.

A four-year veteran with Hoot Owl Creek Vineyards in Healdsburg, Ruiz had some nerves going into the competition, where workers are not only judged for their speed, but also for preciseness of their cuts — a skill crucial to ensure a good harvest later in the year.

“You get nervous to make the right cuts. To make a split-second decision, it’s always challenging,” Ruiz said through a Spanish translator. She also didn’t mind being one of the few women going up against the guys.

“I show up to win,” Ruiz said.

The event, sponsored by more than 25 local businesses in the industry, provided more than $15,000 in cash awards and equipment for participants. Jose Avila of Lynmar Estate Winery in Sebastopol took first place, which included a $2,500 award.

There are approximately about 6,000 vineyard workers in Sonoma County. They are supplemented with about 1,700 part-time workers, many of whom work specifically for harvest that starts in August and can extend into November.

“It’s not always going to be who is the fastest guy. Sometimes the fastest guy does win, but that also means he is a really good pruner,” said Riggs Lokka, assistant vineyard manager at Emeritus.

Pruning remains a crucial skill even as machines have increasingly taken over more vineyard tasks with improvements in technology along with the scarcity of finding workers. Many farmers rely on machines to perform “pre-pruning,” where a blade buzzes off the deadwood tops of the vines. But many in the North Coast premium wine region later rely on workers to make the final cuts, which determines the growth pattern of the cluster through harvest.

“This is a skill if your guys are good at it, then your vineyard is set for the entire year,” said Lokka.

Given an ongoing labor shortage, vineyard managers are relying more on women for their crews ― a trend that they see continuing. In 2019, the first woman participated in the pruning competition and this year there were four, Lokka said. Maria Torres of Atlas Vineyard Management made it to the finals of Wednesday’s event.

“We see on my side more attention to detail from some of the lady crews,” said Jennifer Thomson, general manager of Thomson Vineyards in Napa.

Isaul “Junior” Macias, who manages at Hoot Owl Creek and Alexander Valley Vineyards, said Ruiz is one of his crew leaders and she has proven her leadership skills with the mostly male workforce and they will lend help for her on heavy lifting of bins. She also has proposed ideas to make vineyards tasks more efficient, which he appreciated.

“As far as speed and quality, she’s just awesome,” Macias said of Ruiz.

More women are working in the industry, he said, as they are finding they have more time after being a stay-at-home mom and have husbands who also work in the industry.

“They are willing to work. A lot of them instead of staying at home, they have been coming out to work. It’s been great,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 707-521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.