What’s the difference between a Harvest Beard and a Playoff Beard? Besides the fact that harvest workers don’t make millions of dollars and that as a cellar worker you can’t take home the Stanley Cup, NOTHING. So why do professional athletes and winery workers grow beards during the most intense and important parts of the season? Camaraderie.

Winemaker Greg sporting his Harvest Beard

For years the playoff beard has been seen around the NHL and NFL (not so much in the NBA), but most recently the Boston Red Sox are the talk of the town with their versions of the playoff beard and have made it to the World Series. I am from New York, but not even I can deny what the playoff beards have done for the Red Sox. I am not saying that the beards are what got the Sox to the World Series, but there have been multiple storylines either online or on ESPN about the beards and the success of the team.

What is the reason for winery workers to grow their beards (other than the fact that winery workers work around the clock tending to the grapes)? I think the simple answer is, there is just no time to shave. Ok maybe that’s not it. Maybe it’s just an excuse to be lazy with the razor and grow that manly beard you always wanted. Or maybe Harvest is the wine world’s equivalent of the playoffs and we are all working towards a common goal. It may not be a championship, but we all want to create championship quality wine. Besides the championship quality wines being made there have been Beard Growing Contests put on by the Napa Valley Vintners in recent years. I’m not sure why this year they haven’t conducted another contest, but one thing is for sure, I know that I am a serious contender.

No one really knows the origins of the harvest beard, but I love harvest time in the Napa Valley with all the excitement, hard work, and of course the beloved harvest beard.

UPDATE: The beard is officially gone.