Job: Director of Winemaking (Sonoma)

(Same job in the Napa Valley too: accurservices.com/job/director-of-winemaking-napa/)

Our Client

Our client for this great Director of Winemaking career opportunity is an established group of leading luxury wines.

Objective

Ideal Profile

The position requires a high level of expertise with luxury winemaking and extensive experience with top quality Bordeaux and Burgundy grape varieties with particular emphasis on Cabernet Sauvignon. The position also requires strong leadership, PR, and financial skills.

Job Description 

• Responsible for all winemaking at the site, while working closely with each brand’s respective winemaker to ensure the highest quality wine is made within the desired winestyle 
• Manage winemakers and seasonal harvest interns at that location
• Coordinate with management/winemaking at external and other internal wineries within the group to manage wines produced and/or stored off site.
• Manage the blending schedule to ensure that each blend is of the highest quality and ready for bottling in a timely manner.  
• Partner with the internal vineyard and grower relations team to manage wine quality from internal and external vineyards, including bi-weekly meetings during growing season and daily during harvest as well as wine quality feedback sessions.
• Create and manage winemaking budget ensuring that all funds are spent in line with forecast and business expectations. 
• Manage relationships with coopers and work with Group Winemaking on new barrel orders.  
• Manage the annual maintenance contract on the oak tanks.
• Work closely with GM of Operations and cellar management to ensure all work is completed in a timely manner and all quality and safety standards regarding wine movement are being adhered to. 
• Work closely with procurement to approve labels and packaging components prior to ordering to ensure that all compliance, legal, and quality specifications are met.
• Work closely with Quality department to coordinate routine wine analysis, sample processes, tasting set ups, pre and post bottling analysis, and packaging approval. 
• Work closely with wine tracking to ensure all blends meet compliance standards of their respective labels. 
• Continually look for opportunities for improvement in the cellar and winemaking practices in accordance with the company’s vision of always innovating and improving and then work closely with engineering team to design and organize winery upgrades and new equipment purchases.
• Work closely with GM, marketing, wine education, PR, and production to ensure that style meets desired quality and target for price 
• May provide support for sales, customer relations, marketing and PR to enhance the image of the site by hosting trade and media at the winery, attend local industry events, marketing travel both domestically and internationally, as well as virtual events. 
• Work closely with Hospitality and the Visitor Center staff to give updates on winestyles and winemaking as well as may host consumer events at the winery. 
• Manage winemaking library to ensure there are sufficient historical references for current and future winemaking teams. 
• Responsible for understanding and complying with applicable legal, quality, environmental and safety regulatory considerations.

Requirements

Basic Qualifications: 

• Degree in Enology, Viticulture, Microbiology, Chemistry, or related field
• 10+ years of wine industry experience 
• Excellent organizer and planner
• Excellent communication skills – articulate and technical in writing and speech
• Highly refined wine tasting skills
• Highly Skilled in the use of MS Excel and PowerPoint 
• Excellent Time Management – manage timelines and project milestones 

Preferred qualifications: 

• Winemaker with 10+ years of luxury wine industry experience 
• Experience with luxury winemaking with proven track record of high scoring wines
• Excellent teamwork skills with an easy inclusive communication style
• Minimum supervision and strong planning and organizational skills.
• Previous appreciated experience: E&J Gallo, Constellation Brands, Trinchero Family Estates, Treasury Wine Estate, The Wine Group, Bronco Wine Company, Accolade Wines, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Moet Hennessy, Remy Cointreau…