Beyond the Harvest – Building Stronger, Healthier, and More Resilient Wine Industry Teams
Updated: Sep 16
Chloe Redmond is a leader in digital marketing, influencer partnerships, and social media management. A chance opportunity to work with Chopra Global (Deepak Chopra’s legacy company) in 2020 left her with the understanding of how mindfulness and marketing can co-exist.
Harvest is one of the most celebrated times of year in wine country. It represents months of preparation, long hours in the vineyard and cellar, and the beginning of a transformation that ultimately brings people together around a bottle of wine. But behind the beauty and tradition of harvest is a physically demanding reality.
For harvest workers and winemakers, long days of repetitive movement, lifting, carrying, bending, heat, fatigue, and limited recovery can place significant stress on the body. While the wine industry has increasingly embraced conversations around sustainability, quality, and innovation, the physical well-being and longevity of the people who make the industry possible deserve equal attention.
Recognizing this opportunity, Annalise DuSell, a sports physical therapist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and CrossFit Level 1 coach, created the Winery Wellness Program, an initiative designed specifically around the physical demands of the wine industry.
The program centers on three foundational principles: education, preparation, and recovery, while also incorporating mindfulness, exercise, diet, and sleep. Its goal is not simply to respond to injuries, but to help workers build greater physical capacity, awareness, and resilience before and throughout harvest.
In this conversation, DuSell shares what inspired her to develop the program, why injury prevention matters, how physical therapy can be integrated directly into harvest, and her vision for creating a healthier and more sustainable future for wine industry professionals.
What inspired you to create the Winery Wellness Program for harvest workers and winemakers?
I was inspired to create this program after I started working in a winery tasting room and saw how intense harvest can be. Combined with knowing that many small businesses can't afford to provide health care for their workers, or that the health care they do provide is limited by the places accepting it, I saw an opportunity. Seeing the impact of harvest over a few years on the harvest workers' and winemakers' bodies, I saw a place where I could make an impact on people's lives.
Can you share your journey in sports therapy and how it led to this initiative?
My journey in sports physical therapy has been a good mix. I've worked in multiple states and many different clinics and have seen a lot of variety in how people are treated, the pros and cons of taking insurance, and the differences in what people need and care about across different places in the country.
Having this wide experience has helped teach me to look at everyone I work with – with open eyes, considering their lives and how I can impact them instead of just treating them as a body part or injury. This allowed me to see the piece that I believe is missing in winemaking to allow increased ease during harvest and the winemaking process for everyone's bodies.
What are the core components of the Winery Wellness Program?
The core components of this program are education, preparation, and recovery.
Education: A short seminar about learning the importance of preparation and recovery, as well as what we can do to control what we can control during the uncontrollable harvest season.
Preparation: Preparing the body physically for the labor-intensive season of harvest. The stronger we are moving into harvest, the lower the risk of injury and the more load the body can tolerate without being overextended.
Recovery: Things are bound to happen during harvest that our bodies don't respond to as we wish. Having recovery sessions during harvest allows the body to recover more quickly and address irritations before they become bigger issues.
How does the pre-harvest educational workshop prepare workers for the physical demands of the season?
This workshop teaches the individual what is important to pay attention to. How to think about how the day is structured in regard to mindfulness, exercise, diet, and sleep. How can we control aspects of these around harvest when many aspects are uncontrollable?
Why is injury prevention particularly important for harvest workers?
Injury prevention is key to being able to keep up with the demands of harvest, as well as being able to return and work harvest every year. It also allows people to fully function and show up however they would like in their daily lives.
What specific exercises and techniques do you recommend to minimize injury risks during harvest?
The most important thing is preparing your body for the load and demand that will be placed on it during harvest. The way we do that is by increasing the strength of all our muscles and teaching our body how to move and lift heavy objects.
The heavier weights we can move, the less maximal effort is needed for each movement. If we can lift heavier than we will during harvest, the demand during harvest is less on our bodies.
How do mindfulness, diet, and sleep play a role in your program?
These factors play a role in the education piece. These are factors we can control that affect pain and injury risk.
By being mindful of our thoughts and what we tell ourselves, we can impact how our nervous system is functioning day to day. Diet and nutrition help us manage our cells' and bodies' needs for increased activity.
We need to make sure we are eating enough of the right macronutrients daily so we can recover fully and support our bodies for what we are asking them to do. We also need to pay attention to micronutrients, electrolytes in particular, with the long working days in the sun and increased sweat loss.
Sleep is when our bodies recover. Pain sensitivity starts after one week of getting less than eight hours of sleep. This means that pains you normally wouldn't notice are going to show up when there is continued sleep deprivation.
Can you explain the M.E.D.S. framework you incorporate into the training?
Everything above is taught and discussed in the workshop. We discuss how we can control some of this during the season. We aren't looking for perfection because it's not a reality, and we are looking at how we can keep these things in mind during this season.
If we can't get eight hours of sleep because of the harvest schedule, can we dial in our nutrition 80% of the week? If we can't get any other exercise throughout harvest, can we take five to 10 minutes every evening for a walk, yoga session, or breathwork to settle our nervous system?
There are options for everything, and I like to teach the big picture. How can we adapt these to best fit what is within your capacity during this chapter?
How do one-on-one check-in sessions enhance the overall effectiveness of the program?
The check-in sessions allow for real-time modifications to the workouts. Maybe someone doesn't have access to a piece of equipment that is written into the program, and during the check-in, we can figure out how to modify or substitute so they can still get the full benefit.
It's also a great time for clients to ask questions about any of the exercises and to double-check their form if necessary. This is where we can troubleshoot compliance, as well as how the program is fitting into their lives. Do we need to shorten the workouts slightly? Are they too easy? Are they having pain with a certain movement? What do we need to modify?
What can participants expect from their individual sessions during the second week of programming?
They can expect individualization of the programs if needed and the full session time chatting with their strength coach or physical therapist. This is the time for any questions they have.
How does the inclusion of physical therapy during harvest benefit workers?
This offering helps mitigate the risk of injuries turning into bigger issues, as well as helping with their bodies' recovery.
During these sessions, we can figure out if they need more bodywork, mobility work, or specific strengthening during harvest. It is also a great time for touchpoints again in regard to M.E.D.S.
What types of injuries are most commonly addressed in these sessions?
These can vary, but what I have seen the most so far are low back pain, sciatica-like symptoms, forearm tightness, wrist pain, and neck and shoulder pain.
Have you seen any success stories or positive outcomes from participants in the program?
Since we are in the beginning stages of launching this program, we missed the timeframe this year for the education and programming piece. We have had two recovery sessions with decreased symptoms the following day in the forearms, neck, and shoulders.
During these sessions, we have been able to discuss ways to mitigate this throughout the rest of the week and how to manage it. We have had intermittent decreases in chronic low back symptoms and increased body awareness with another client.
What are your long-term goals for the Winery Wellness Program?
My long-term goal for the Winery Wellness Program is to bring more awareness to the pieces of wellness and longevity that we have control over, beginning in the Pacific Northwest.
I would love to bring this program to at least 50% of the wineries in the Willamette Valley, if not more. Another goal is to see the acceptance of strength training and the importance of self-care brought into the wine world.
Wine is a vessel to bring people together, so why not build stronger, more resilient, and healthier people who can continue to come together and share wine for longer?
Building out this program will also allow more people who may not have access to this kind of health care to receive the access they all deserve.
How do you envision expanding or evolving this initiative in the future?
Expanding to more participating wineries would allow me to bring more physical therapists and strength coaches into this program to assist, as well as potentially expand to other big wine country areas.
I don't know how this program will evolve, but I am staying open to seeing how it will. Feedback from wineries will be heard, so adjustments to make this work well for them can be made as well.
The more people we are involved with, the more we will know how to evolve and continue making this impact.
What advice would you give to harvest workers looking to prepare their bodies for the season?
Start early and hire someone to help you learn functional movement patterns if you don't know them. Take advantage of the higher level of control and dial in your nutrition and sleep as much as you can before harvest starts and this becomes harder.
How can vineyard owners support the well-being of their teams beyond your program?
Bring in a nutritionist for an education moment. Share recipes that are high in protein. Share sleep and evening routines to help with sleep. Complete a workout together weekly. Create accountability with each other. Lead from the front and continue or begin your own journey.
How can interested harvest workers or vineyard owners learn more about your program?
Check out the website
Email Annalise DuSell at e3physiopdx@gmail.com
Call or text at 503-979-1647
Instagram: @e3physiopdx
Facebook: E3 Physio PDX
A new conversation for wine country
The wine industry is built around connection to land, craft, community, tradition, and ultimately, to one another.
As conversations around sustainability and longevity continue to evolve, perhaps one of the most important places to begin is with the people themselves.
DuSell's Winery Wellness Program offers a practical approach to supporting the physical well-being of the people who make harvest possible. By combining education, preparation, strength, recovery, and individualized physical therapy, the program opens the door to a broader conversation about what it means to build a sustainable career in wine.
The future of wine depends on more than healthy vineyards and successful vintages. It also depends on creating an industry where the people behind the work can remain strong, healthy, and engaged for years to come.
As DuSell looks toward expanding the program throughout the Willamette Valley and beyond, her vision is ultimately about something larger than injury prevention. It is about longevity. It is about accessibility. And it is about recognizing that if wine is a vessel that brings people together, we should also invest in helping the people who create that connection thrive.
Read more from Chloe Redmond
Chloe Redmond, Chopra Certified Healer & Intuitive Consulting
Chloe Redmond is a leader in digital marketing, influencer partnerships, and social media management. A chance opportunity to work with Chopra Global (Deepak Chopra’s legacy company) in 2020 left her with the understanding of how mindfulness and marketing can co-exist. She is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs reach their pure potential through intentional and intuitive marketing practices. Her mission: to teach others how to put their authentic self into play by targeting their niche and discovering creative partnerships.
