Winemaker
(Wine Jobs:
Vineyards & Cellars )
Full Time
Oliver,
British Columbia
Position: Winemaker
Status: Full-time, salaried position
Reports To: General Manager
Supervisor To: Seasonal cellar staff
About Nostalgia Wines: A visit to the Black Sage Bench can double as a trip down memory lane at Nostalgia Wines, a family-owned, boutique winery, just south of Oliver, established in 2006. We craft fruit-forward, luscious whites and full, juicy reds, in addition to sparkling and port-style wines from our small, 14-acre estate vineyard. At Nostalgia Wines, we warmly welcome, educate, and advise wine lovers about how to enjoy expanding their wine journey and cellar.
About the Nostalgia Wines Team: It is important to us that we find a colleague we can trust, who is eager to support their teammates and the business and want to have fun at work every day! We are a small team, we work together closely in all areas of the business, and we are all dedicated to continuing improvement.
Description: This role’s focus is to be the Winemaker, active in all areas of production. The Winemaker is responsible for all winemaking duties including driving the established wine styles, note taking, managing the cellar staff, keeping the cellar in order, grape and wine quality checks, bulk wine inventory, ordering supplies, in-house lab testing, and maintaining grower relationships.
Main Responsibilities:
- Order harvest, winemaking, barrels and packaging supplies. Liaise with the owner for purchases of all supplies and equipment.
- Source and order barrels, barrel management, cleaning and operations, track barrel inventory, characteristics, log usages.
- All aspects of harvest – receiving fruit, processing, inoculations, monitoring fermentations and additions, pump overs, punch downs, filtrations, racking, cleaning, etc.
- Conducts laboratory analysis.
- All sensory analysis, blending, fining, etc. Liaise with the consultant, the owner and the general manager.
- Operating, cleaning, and maintaining winery equipment.
- Maintenance and cleanliness of cellar.
- Bottling line organization, supervision and operations.
- Warehouse organization – forklift operations, shipping and receiving.
- Sourcing and managing cellar staff.
Vineyard Duties:
Our vineyard is where it all begins, so it is important for the winemaker to understand the vineyard well. We expect the winemaker to liaise with the vineyard management team, perform quality checks, sample for ripeness before and during harvest, track harvest metrics (brix, ph, TA, etc), and perform vineyard work not covered by the vineyard management contract, including overseeing a 1-acre off-site vineyard.
Reporting:
This position is responsible for tracking monthly excise duty (bulk), monthly wine inventory (bottled), maintaining notes in an online shared cellar log, and for tracking wine production costs. The successful candidate should be computer literate and comfortable using Excel.
Other duties if needed:
There are occasions when the winemaker will represent Nostalgia Wines at outside events, such as winemaker dinners, and engage with the media. The winemaker may also support the hospitality team in the tasting room when the need arises.
Characteristics of a Successful Nostalgia Winemaker:
As we are a boutique winery, the team here is small. The winemaker is expected to take leadership of this position. Bringing value, inspiration, and motivation to our team. S/he must be comfortable as a hands-on worker in the cellar year-round, comfortable working alone (cellar hands work part-time), and a self-starter with capability to prioritize. During harvest, the winemaker will oversee a small cellar team, and should be comfortable training and guiding the cellar hands.
Outputs Expected:
The winemaker creates award-worthy wines that Nostalgia Wines will be proud to share. S/he is expected to maintain a weekly work order completion checklist for all operations.
S/he must be able to work flexible hours throughout the year, based on demand. S/he maintains open and constant communication with owner and GM, including meeting to communicate wine styles, sales, projections, budgets, etc.
Schedule:
The employee is expected to work 40 hours weekly. As harvest and bottling times can vary schedules to more than a regular work week, days off will be compensated at a later date, as agreed to by both the Employer and the Employee.
Compensation dependent on experience and education. Health insurance benefits and wine allotments included.