Winemaker

Job Description

Winery Summary:

Nestled in the heart of Monterey County's wine country, the Stonewall Winery produces some of the most popular Constellation Brands labels, including Unshackled, Harvey and Harriet and My Favorite Neighbor.  Our team's passion for quality winemaking makes for a fun, engaging and dynamic work environment.

Position Summary:

This is a unique opportunity for a hybrid position of both hands-on production winemaking at Stonewall Winery, and Group Winemaking Responsibilities. This role will report to the Director of Winemaking TPWC and Group Winemaking and maintain a close working relationship with the Director of Winemaking & Operations at Stonewall Winery.

The position of Winemaker is responsible for all day-to-day winemaking activities, ensuring the highest quality, image, and productivity in support of the winery’s strategic goals and the wine brands crafted there. This is a position that will work closely with other departments (Lab, Maintenance, Cellar, Vineyards) as well as sister CBI Operations wineries to meet the winemaking needs across multiple brands.

The Group Winemaking responsibilities involve supporting and executing strategic efforts to enhance luxury brand building by creating standards of excellence, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, while maintaining style and brand integrity. The role drives innovation and delivers key objectives aligned with the strategic direction. It requires an understanding of the business of wine and the entire winemaking process across multiple winery sizes and quality tiers. A high level of leadership, problem-solving skills, and strong interpersonal skills are essential, along with the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively at all levels within the organization.

Responsibilities:

• Help plan, execute, and monitor all winemaking production activities to ensure quality and compliance

• Participate in winery tastings, providing input on wine evaluation and blending decisions

• Oversee cellar operations, scheduling, and work order management to meet production goals

• Taste, evaluate, and create blends and trials to achieve stylistic and cost objectives across all wine tiers

• Manage the logistics of aging, blending, finishing, and storage of bulk wines

• Track fermentation progress during harvest and direct winemaking adjustments as needed

• Assess vineyard fruit development across the central coast and assist with harvest scheduling

• Ensure accurate record keeping and compliance with Federal, State, and TTB regulations

• Coordinate winemaking activities with both other internal and external facilities as required. High level of communication and planning is required with North Coast Winemaking teams.

• Adhere to safety standards to protect personnel, equipment, and the environment.

• Represent the winery in tastings, tours, and educational events

• Work with Winemakers and Operations leaders to scope and drive initiatives across US winemaking operations, facilitating knowledge sharing and best practice adoption across teams

• Manage CBI Oak programs, including network capacity planning, supporting used barrel management across Wine and Spirits, and overseeing the new barrel purchasing process for all wineries.

• Develop, document, and implement new processes, trials, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

• Help translate strategic plans into clear, actionable tasks and deliverables, ensuring timely and effective execution.

• Lead meetings and communicate effectively with stakeholders at all organizational levels to ensure alignment and progress.

• Provide best-in-class customer service to key stakeholders, delivering actions that support and add value

• Build and maintain strategic relationships to optimize information flow and enhance operational performance.

• Collaborate with vendors to leverage technology solutions and understand equipment and process opportunities.

• Prioritize workload effectively in a hybrid role balancing winery/winemaking responsibility with project work to meet Group Winemaking expectations.

Core Competencies

• Accelerate Impact

• Be inclusive

• Communicate effectively

• Develop self and other

• Embrace change

Basic Qualifications:

• B.S. Degree in Enology, Fermentation Science, Food Science, (micro) Biology, Chemistry or related field

• 5+ years’ experience in winemaking

• Wine sensory knowledge

• In-depth understanding of major aspects of Cellar, Lab, Bottling and Vineyard Operations, including impact of results

• Intermediate knowledge of winemaking techniques and best viticultural practices

• Thorough knowledge of local, state and federal government regulations, specifically TTB and state regulations on alcoholic beverage production, distribution and packaging

• Computer proficient in Excel (intermediate to advanced), Access, Word and PowerPoint

• Good organizational, planning, and presentation skills

• Clear commitment to high quality and attention to details

• Able to work independently with minimum supervision

• Process and SOP development

• Ability to work cross functionally and take direction and feedback from multiple teams and departments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 2-3+ years of supervisory experience

• Able to organoleptically evaluate wines and spirits

• Wine Management Data Base, Vintrace winery software

• Spanish proficiency

• Project management and process improvement

ADA Physical/Mental/Workplace Requirements:

• Ability to sit, talk on the phone, and operate standard office equipment.

• Must be able to sit and/or stand for long periods of time and work on a computer for extended periods.

• Ability to lift/move up to 55 lbs.

• Work in various environments, including outdoors/indoors, warm/cold climates, and near moving parts.

• Exposure to loud noise, fumes, and toxic chemicals.

• Travel requirement: Up to 1 trip a month to North Coast, other CBI facilities across Central Coast as needed, Vineyard visits across Central Coast AVAs.

• Must be at least 21 years of age

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Note: This description outlines essential job functions and is not exhaustive. Management may modify duties as necessary.

Location

Soledad, California

Additional Locations Job Type

Full time

Job Area

Viticulture & Winemaking:

The salary range for this role is:

$100,300.00 - $153,600.00

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. Our compensation is based on cost of labor. For remote locations or positions open to multiple locations, the pay range may reflect several US geographic markets, including the lowest geographic market minimum to the highest geographic market maximum. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, the prevailing minimum wage for the location, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. At Constellation Brands, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the high end of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate. We offer comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance, 401(k), and any other benefits to eligible employees.

Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, or any other form of compensation that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Equal Opportunity

Constellation Brands is committed to a continuing program of equal employment opportunity. All persons have equal employment opportunities with Constellation Brands, regardless of their sex, race, color, age, religion, creed, sexual orientation, national origin or citizenship, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristics), marital status, gender (including gender identity or gender expression), familial status, military or veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related conditions (or any other group or category within the framework of the applicable discrimination laws and regulations).