Agricultural Heritage, Or American Hypocrisy
the people who pick the grapes, bottle the wine, wash the dishes — and the ones sipping $48 rosé. what happens if immigrants disappear.
Living in Sonoma County — one of the whitest and wealthiest regions in California — people come here for vineyards and tasting rooms, luxury hotels and farm-to-table restaurants, the “picturesque countryside.”
But peel back one layer and the truth appears.
The people who pick the grapes are Mexican. The people who bottle the wine and trim the vines are Mexican. The people who wash the dishes and clean the hotel rooms are Mexican. Not the ones sipping $48 rosé at a tasting room.
The wine economy has always been built on undocumented and immigrant labor. During harvest season, vineyard workers breathe wildfire smoke — because stopping work means losing their job. Picking grapes in 100-degree heat while tourists sip chilled Sauvignon Blanc.
Agricultural heritage, or American hypocrisy?
It’s everywhere.
Cafés: front of house, a 22-year-old white woman with a curated aesthetic. Back of house: Guatemalan men, Salvadoran men, Mexican women doing the labor.
Restaurants: chefs get magazine covers. Dishwashers get anonymity. Servers get tips. Line cooks get arthritis.
Hair salons: the white stylist holds the scissors. Immigrants sweep the hair. Silently. Invisibly.
Malls, gyms and hotels: white guests. Immigrant cleaning staff.
What happens if immigrants disappear? Farmworkers stop coming. Dishwashers stop showing up. Construction workers leave. Waste sorters vanish. Daycare workers disappear. Caregivers step away. Landscapers refuse. Vineyard workers walk out.
California collapses in 24 hours. America collapses in 72.
Wine economy? Gone. Restaurant industry? Gone. Childcare? Gone. Elder care? Gone. Hospital staffing? Gone. Construction? Gone. Logistics? Gone. Recycling systems? Paralyzed. Agriculture? Destroyed.
America’s comfort is built on immigrant labor. America’s cruelty is built on forgetting that.