+ Assistant Winemaker Star Lane & Dierberg Vineyard 5/22/2023 ^new!

Company: Star Lane & Dierberg Vineyard

Position Type: Full-time

Position: Assistant Winemaker

Location: Santa Barbara, CA

Description:

We are a small-ish winery in Santa Barbara County producing Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, all five Bordelaise red varieties, and Sauvignon Blanc. We also help a few others crush their fruit and make their wine.

Our wines are produced from estate grown fruit in 2 different AVAs (Sta. Rita Hills and Happy Canyon) of Santa Barbara County. We think wine should taste great. We think food should taste great. We think we should learn something every harvest, and work to create a team environment that cultivates safety, quality, education, and deliciousness. Every vintage this is our ultimate priority and our greatest motivation. We hope to build a team that is efficient and energetic with a good sense of humor. We take making wine very seriously, and ourselves not so seriously.

Job Responsibilities

• REPORTING: Reports to President/Winemaker
• PHILOSOPHY/LEADERSHIP: Works to understand philosophical/stylistic goals for wines and lead cellar team into the right positions to execute the actual mechanics and protocols laid out by Winemaker. Works to educate and reinforce stylistic goals and how particular practices are believed to assist in achieving those goals.
• EXECUTION: Works closely with Cellar Master, Production Assistant, and Enologist to ensure proper implementation of (I.e. leads planning and distribution of labor to execute winemaking systems):
  • Sanitation protocols
  • Grape-to-wine process flows
  • Proper wine handling throughout aging
  • Execution of bottling
  • Accurate record keeping through efficient systems building and leveraging current software.
  • Coordinating laboratory work with production workflow.
• Work with Cellar Master to recruit and cultivate a strong harvest team for each vintage.
• Develop a strong enological understanding of key markers for wine quality, view/leverage information to improve the understanding of our own vineyards/wine and expected to be a collaborative and creative partner in learning how to fine tune our efforts through trials and empiricism.
• In concert with timing set by Winemaker, Assistant Winemaker coordinates execution of bottling plan including glass, cork, label ordering, bottling line scheduling, contract labor scheduling (if necessary), and all aspects associated with ensuring bottling is set up and executed properly.
• Responsible for executing the inventory flow in and out of bottled wine whether to warehouses for International/US Wholesale distribution or Direct to Consumer sales distribution.
• Maintenance of previous vintage wines (gassing, mixing, analysis, additions)
• Have strong communication skills and expect to assist in educating team members and/or external sales partners, lead tours/tastings, participate in direct to consumer events, and travel to represent brands as an ambassador when Winemaker is unavailable.

Qualifications:

• Developed palate with broad tasting experiences of wines around the world.
• Minimum of 5+ yrs. winemaking experience.
• B.S. in Enology/Fermentation Science or related field a plus
• Passion for cooking a plus.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Operational experience with filtration, bottling line operation, forklift use, scissor lift use pumps, presses, hoses, etc.
• Familiar with typical cellar chemicals, hazards, uses and appropriate disposal
• Sanitation lead, training and safe use of chemicals, and processes.
• Proficient desk work and computer skills in addition to vigorous cellar work, ladders, catwalk use, forklift and scissor lift operation.
• Filling out work-orders, cellar worker timecards, inventory, etc.
• Valid driver’s license

Duration/Compensation/Benfits:

• Full-time
• $70,000- $80,000 per year based upon relevant experience.

To apply:

Email resume and cover letter to Tyler Thomas, President & Winemaker: tyler@dierbergvineyard.com